Unforgettable Friends- Rule Number Nine
by Time4me2fly
Summary: The First installment of my "Unforgettable Friends" series. I was binge-watching shows from my first decade, and realized that there were two characters from my two favorite shows that HAD to have met each other. Figuring out how that happened was half the fun. Then, what if they had a friend in common?
1. Chapter 1: Opening Gambit

_Author's Note: Hello, Friends! I have had so much fun writing this, and I hope that you enjoy it too! Sometimes we wonder what old friends are up to. I decided to find out! Additional note: This story takes place in early to mid 2015, before Gibbs' misadventures with The Calling._

 _Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters... I only borrowed some of my current favorites, and blew the dust off of one of my old favorites. Thank you, CBS, for your interest in blowing the dust off of it as well. I'm glad the original creator of the concept is involved... Don't mess this up, guys!_

* * *

 **Unforgettable Friends - "Rule Number Nine"**

 _Voice-over: Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right? You wake up in the morning and something feels off? You figure you should know better, that it might be the best idea to just pull the covers over your head and abandon the day to its own devices, but then your sense of responsibility kicks in and you blunder headlong into 'one of those days'? Yeah, that was the kind of day I was having._

 _In spades._

 _An old friend of mine had asked me for a 'favor'. I should have known better… I'd never trusted this guy as far as I could throw him, but somehow, he'd always weasel me into something that I'd have to get us out of. I'd never been able to say, 'No!' when I knew someone needed help. From what my old friend was telling me, this kid he knew needed a lot of it._

 _So here I was, thirty-six hours practically without sleep, starving to death, trying to help some kid I didn't know, on this day where nothing seemed to go right. I'd watched him make one of the stupidest decisions of his life, and I couldn't do a thing about it. I'd watched him reap the consequences… 'Reap'…? Now, that was a Freudian Slip if I've ever heard one! The 'Reaper' had already come for this kid. As I leaned over him, plugging the hole in his chest and hearing his last breath rattle, I wondered if this day could get any worse. As the police swarmed on me 'en masse', guns drawn and handcuffs glinting, I realized it could. When they saw the uniform the kid was wearing and called in the Navy cops… well… suddenly there was a whole new level of 'worse'. Awww, man...I really should have stayed in bed…_


	2. Chapter 2: Forgotten Already?

_Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has decided to continue on and solve the mystery. Hint: It's not who you think...and yet again, it just might be..._

* * *

The elevator dinged as McGee entered the Squad Room, with Bishop on his heels. "I only brought it up, because I hadn't heard from this guy in years!" McGee was saying as they entered the bull pen and stashed their bags.

"I haven't kept up with some of my NSA contacts," Bishop said, sounding a little defensive. "It hasn't been that long since I left, and I can't remember most of their names right now."

DiNozzo looked up from the website he'd been perusing. "What are we talking about?" he demanded.

McGee seemed genuinely puzzled. "An old college buddy of mine was at the coffee shop this morning. He didn't recognize me, even after I introduced myself to him. It'd only been a few years, but I would have thought…" He shrugged. "I thought we were closer friends. I guess the passing of time dulled certain memories."

"Some people are too shallow," Bishop argued. "You can be working with them day and night, but as soon as your project is done, you cease to exist in their universe. I've known a lot of analysts like that. We'd been on the same team for a year, and they couldn't remember my name."

"I've known people like that," DiNozzo chimed in.

"They might have been consciously trying to forget you," McGee teased.

"Tony grinned in response to the expected jibe, but a familiar pain flared up as he thought of an unforgettable friend he hadn't seen for a while. "That could be, McGee," he allowed, wondering to himself if his missing friend was finding it as hard to forget him.

"Gear up," Gibbs barked, rounding the corner of the squad room. "Somebody's not going to be remembering anyone's name… Dead Petty Officer, warehouse district."

"What do we have, Boss?" DiNozzo asked as he gathered his equipment.

Gibbs paused to throw him a long look. "You forget about him already? A dead Petty Officer, DiNozzo."


	3. Chapter 3: Something Doesn't Fit

The crime scene was a busy place. Squad cars and ambulances dotted the perimeter of the warehouse parking lot, and uniformed officers lifted the yellow tape as the NCIS team walked up. Their victim was covered in a tarp, which Ducky pulled back. "I'd say this one is fairly self explanatory," the Medical Examiner mused as Tony snapped his pictures and McGee started running prints. "Single gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead when the EMS arrived. Odd, though…"

"Duck?" Gibbs asked as he trailed off.

"I would have expected to see more blood," Ducky admitted, looking the scene over again. "This is a messy wound, and he would have bled out in moments." He shrugged. "Ah, well… yet another mystery to solve when we get him back to Autopsy. Come, Mr. Palmer; let's get this poor boy loaded."

Gibbs gave his team the signal, and they fanned out to process the rest of the scene. The police and EMS that had been first on scene were interviewed, and as Tony finished up with his duties, he looked around to see who he could help. McGee was also finished and walking towards him, Gibbs was still talking to one of the officers near where the shooting had happened, and Bishop was getting report from yet another officer near where the vehicles were parked. As Tony watched, the officer opened the door of one of the squad cars to reveal a handcuffed man in the back seat.

"Hey, wait; we have a suspect in custody?" DiNozzo demanded. "That would have been good to know!"

"I wonder if Gibbs knows about this?" McGee asked as they drew nearer.

Tony swept his gaze over the situation, and something didn't jive. While experience had told him that perpetrators came in all shapes, colors, sizes, ages, and genders, his years on the job also led him to recognize certain patterns. Shootings at warehouses on the shadier side of town involving young Navy victims led to the expectation of a certain kind of perpetrator. The suspect in the squad did not live up to that expectation at all.

It might have been the clothes. The cuffed man was wearing hiking boots, jeans, and a flannel shirt over a long-sleeved henley, looking more suited to be hiking in the woods or working as an Eddie Bauer model than hanging around an inner-city warehouse district. Tony came nearer and was able to get a good look at the man himself. His six foot tall frame was lanky and healthy looking. A younger perp would have fit the expectations better, but this guy's sandy brown hair was starting to turn to silver, and it appeared that the passage of time had softened once-chiseled cheekbones. If Tony had been pressed to guess his age, he would have pegged it in the mid-to-upper fifties, but he would not have been surprised in the least to learn he was way off. There was something in the weary brown eyes that spoke of a much longer and fuller life.

Bishop and the officer both sounded frustrated as DiNozzo and McGee came into earshot. The man in the back of the squad was obviously not happy either, and when one of his protests touched the officer's last nerve, the police officer pushed the squad's door closed, effectively drowning him out. As DiNozzo watched, an expression of, 'oh great; not again!' crossed the man's face as he rested his forehead against the window. DiNozzo found that strange; there was something about that expression that spoke volumes about the amount of trouble this guy had been in, yet he didn't have the stamp of a repeat criminal.

"What's the story, Morning Glory?" DiNozzo asked, turning his attention to Bishop, who was avidly writing information in her notepad.

"This guy here was found crouching over the body when the police arrived. His hands were covered in our victim's blood…"

"Because I was trying to stop the bleeding!" the man in the squad shouted, his voice muffled by the closed door. "If I'd killed him, why would I bother hanging around until the cops showed up?"

Ignoring him, DiNozzo looked at the police officer. "Was there a weapon recovered?"

The police officer handed over a plastic evidence bag with a reluctant shrug. "Our victim died of a gunshot wound to the heart…"

"So this obviously isn't our murder weapon," DiNozzo agreed, holding the bag up to eye level and staring at the bright red Swiss Army Knife inside.

"I want that back when you're done with it," the cuffed man in the squad car insisted.

Bishop scowled at him, then continued her report. "Our suspect refused to give his name, stating that he is currently working an undercover assignment for something called 'The Phoenix Foundation,' but he won't give us any information on what that organization is, or what his alleged assignment is. A search of his person turned up a single security card with just his picture on it. He demands that his cell phone be returned to him so he can call in to his organization and have his identity verified that way." At the confusion on McGee and DiNozzo's faces, Bishop shrugged. "He claims his phone has an encryption program on it, and he can only call in with that code. He's asked for it at least a dozen times since I started taking report."

"Yeah, so he can compromise our evidence? Not happening!" DiNozzo agreed. "If he won't talk, that'll have to wait until we get everything processed."

"It's gonna take a while," the man in the car promised, his tone sounding more exhausted than petulant. "Sorry to change the subject here, but I'm starving. Would it be possible to _please_ get me something to eat? I've been trailing this kid for three days without a break."

Tony made sure to write that down. "Ah, was that just a confession?"

The car vibrated with the force of the man's banging his head against the glass. "Awwww, man! I am _way_ too old for this!" he complained. He looked up, focusing on DiNozzo. "Look, just get me a sandwich and my cell phone, and we can talk about this until we're both blue in the face. And hey, buddy?" he added, swinging his dark gaze on the police officer, "You cinched these cuffs a little tight; they're cutting off my circulation."

"Sorry you're so uncomfortable," DiNozzo consoled, the condescension dripping from his tone earning him a grimace from their suspect. "Once we get you back to our Interrogation Room, we'll let you slip into something a little more comfortable… a bright orange jumpsuit and shackles, say?"

Tony was shocked when the suspect heaved an exasperated sigh instead of launching into a furious tirade. Turning to McGee, he gestured back to the suspect. "Get him transferred to our car," Tony ordered. "We'll let the Boss take a crack at him in Interrogation."

"If he lets me make my phone call and then tosses a sandwich at me, I'll sing like a canary," the cuffed man promised as McGee opened the car door and hauled him upright. "Seriously? Even a cup of coffee would be heaven right now."

Tony watched as McGee swapped cuffs (making sure not to cinch his too tightly) and loaded their prisoner in the back of the blue Charger. "Something about this guy…" Tony said aloud.

Bishop was nodding, her head canted to the side. "I know what you mean. Too experienced with being in this kind of trouble. Too secretive; he knows something we don't."

"Like why he killed our Petty Officer?" Tony wondered with a snort.

"No… I get the sense that he's positive he's going to get out of this. Our investigation is an inconvenience to him, but not just because we're holding him for murder."

"Bishop, sometimes you scare me," Tony informed the Probational Officer. "But I think you're right. We'll see what Gibbs can get out of him."

* * *

 _Author's Note: To those of you who know me, I couldn't resist that little shout-out to a former place of employment. I nearly died laughing when I realized that an outfit I had dressed a mannequin in a year and a half ago looked almost exactly like what the Guest Star in this escapade wore in the Pilot Episode of his own adventures...thirty-some years ago. As he says later on, "Appreciate the classics, right?"_


	4. Chapter 4: Who Is This Guy?

Abby chewed her lip as she glared at the computer screen. "I mirrored the entire hard drive, but the second I tried to access a file, it locked itself up with an encryption algorithm like I have never seen before! Who is this guy? What is he involved with that would need such security?"

McGee connected leads to the laptop's ports to attempt another copy. "He claims to be an undercover agent."

"For which Agency?" Abby demanded. "I hope he's on our side… If the US Government had encryption like this, the IRS wouldn't have gotten hacked!"

McGee shook his head. "It's up to us to find out. Our suspect won't talk until he gets his phone back."

"I'll bet that went over like a lead balloon!" Abby snorted.

"Yeah, this guy sure got under Tony's skin. I can't wait to watch the tapes of Gibbs in Interrogation!" He finally got the wires set up the way he wanted, then started tapping away at the keyboard before him. "Okay, starting with a fresh mirror-image of the hard drive... How many partitions do you think he's got set up on this thing?" he asked in surprise as he read the screen.

"This thing is more segmented than most people's silverware drawers!" Abby observed. "Every single kind of file possible has its own partition! Wait… What's that?"

McGee dug deeper at a bit of code that danced across the screen. "It's a tracking program!" he exclaimed. "According to Tony, our suspect has been following our victim for the past three days." He frowned as he continued to read. "As a matter of fact, it's still pinging something, but because of the encryption, I can't figure out what." He reached for Abby's "Safecracker" program, but the moment the first code was entered, the screen he was looking at went to static. "Oh, no!"

On to her next project, Abby shook her head in disgust. "McGee, who took this guy's prints? They're a mess! I think I only have three or four clear ones, and none of them are from an index finger!" Abby fed what prints she had into the computer, gnawing on her lower lip as she turned her attention to the next item on her list. "The security card we took off of this guy came from the Phoenix Foundation…. _Phoenix Foundation_ … That sounds so familiar! Where have I heard that name before?"

McGee shrugged. "I tried accessing their employee records, but they're sealed; we're waiting for our Director to talk to their Director."

Abby repeated the name a few more times as she looked the card over again. "The picture on here isn't the greatest quality either; it looks like this card has spent a few years in a rock tumbler. If the card looks this rough, what does the rest of the wallet look like?"

"There wasn't one. Everything in his pockets was loose," McGee shrugged.

'Who doesn't have a wallet?" she wondered in disbelief. "Ugh, my poor computer is having a fit with those prints!" While she waited for the results to come back, she picked up another object from the evidence bin. "What is this, now?" she demanded, rotating the squarish black plastic box in her hand. She pulled it out of the plastic evidence bag, tracing her gloved fingers around the seams to see if it opened. A button seemed to give under her finger, and a brilliant light flashed in her eyes.

"Hey!" she bellowed.

 _Author's Note: Okay, fellow "Rememberers of the '80's..." Have you figured out who this is yet? And, any guesses on what Abby just found? Let me know what you think. (Not like I'm begging for reviews, but... Okay, I'm begging for reviews!)_


	5. Chapter 5: You Bet I Have Questions!

A Big Huge Warm Thank You for Everyone who has read, and an even Bigger Thank You to You Kind Reviewers! (Most of you are right, by the way!)

...

Gibbs read the file as he strode down the hallway. His team hadn't gotten anything out of their suspect…other than a carry-out order. He knew his people and what they were capable of. If this guy wasn't giving up information, it was going to make for a long day. Gibbs read Tony's notes on the suspect's attitude and made his decision; if this was how the guy wanted to play, he was about to challenge the Master!

Knowing Tony was already in Observation, Gibbs strode right into the Interrogation Room. A cursory glance showed his suspect was slouched in his chair, arms folded across his chest, and his chin tucked down and away from the door. By the sound of it, he was either feigning sleep, or he really had dropped off. Gibbs tossed the file on the table, pleased that he'd gotten the angle right so it made a loud 'pop' that startled his suspect out of an apparently genuine doze. As the man rubbed his hands over his face, Gibbs wandered to the far corner of the room and made a show of wiping the dust off of the top of the camera mounted there.

The man seated at the table cleared his throat, and Gibbs paused as he waited for him to speak.

"Before we begin, please thank Agent McGee for picking up that sub sandwich for me. I know what your protocol is, but feeding me probably saved my life there."

Gibbs froze. That was the last thing he was expecting to hear. And… _He knew that voice!_ He turned, his blue eyes tightening.

The man still had his chin tucked into his collar, and his eyes were still closed, but he was definitely no longer asleep. His whole body spoke of extreme weariness. When his eyes reopened, they were dull and bloodshot. He didn't look up at Gibbs, but instead he leaned back in the chair and allowed his lids to drift shut again. "I don't want to seem uncooperative, but I have protocol I have to follow too. If I could just get my phone, that'll help get this party started... I know you have a million questions."

Gibbs strode towards the table with heavy footfalls. The man still didn't look up, so Gibbs leaned his weight against the table, shifting it to get the other man's attention.

Tired brown eyes blinked open again as he gave in to a jaw-cracking yawn, but when he focused on the agent, the suspect's yawn transformed into an open-mouthed gape of shock. "Aww, you gotta be _kidding_ me…"

Gibbs threw the table out of the way, and the other man scrambled to his feet so quickly his chair fell over. "You bet I have questions for you!" Gibbs snarled.

...

Note: Ooooooooooohh!


	6. Chapter 6: Uh, Boss?

_Author's Note: Are you ready to see if you were right?_

"He's gonna kill him!" Tony exclaimed, watching Gibbs' back as the Boss tossed the furniture aside. "What is he doing?" He flew to the door, wrenched it open, and spun around the corner to the Interrogation Room.

He tumbled into the room, intent upon stopping the inexplicable carnage he was sure was occurring, but drew up short as the bellowed words registered.

" _Where. Have. You. Been_?" Gibbs was shouting.

"Busy!" the suspect hollered back. "And who broke _your_ fingers? My number hasn't changed!"

"Mac, I swear, someday…!" Gibbs broke off, losing his fight to keep the grin from splitting his face. "Oh, it's good to see you!"

"Likewise, Jethro!" the other man laughed as they pounded each other's backs with bone-crushing force.

DiNozzo was completely flummoxed. "Boss… why are you _hugging_ …?… our suspect?"

"Witness," Gibbs corrected, one arm still draped over the other man's shoulder as he jabbed a playful punch at his stomach. "MacGyver isn't our suspect."

"MacGyver…?" Tony shook his head in confusion. "And you know this…?"

"He couldn't kill anyone. It's a genetic thing," Gibbs returned, as if that explained it all. "Mac, seriously, when did you hit DC?"

MacGyver's interrupted yawn finally caught up with him. "Three long days ago, Gunny. You wouldn't believe what I've gone through tailing this kid. The fact that he lasted this long in this city kinda amazes me."

"You saw this go down," Gibbs stated, setting up MacGyver's chair and moving the table back into place.

Mac dropped gratefully into his seat, stifling another yawn. It was obvious he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. "Not just watched it, got it on film."

DiNozzo jumped. "You did? Where is this evidence?"

Mac was scrubbing his eyes again. "It's in my rental. Did you guys find it and bring it in?"

"The vehicle, and everything in it, was delivered to our Forensic Scientist. She's processing it right now," DiNozzo replied.

Gibbs picked up the file & read through it. Humorous disbelief raised his eyes. "A Jeep, Mac?"

"Do you know how hard it is to find someplace that rents those?" Mac retorted. "Couldn't bring my own; I was in such a hurry that I hopped a cargo plane to get out here."

"You're still driving that old bucket? That thing's a classic by now!"

"Got the blue plates in the mail last year," Mac nodded with a sleepy grin. "She's been through a lot, but she's still with me. The Nomad too, but I lent that to a charity auto museum. They don't build them like they used to."

Gibbs nodded. "Got my old Camaro from my Dad."

Mac looked appropriately impressed. "Nice!" A thought hit him, and he turned back to DiNozzo. "Come to think of it, Tony, there was a building across the street that might have had security cameras pointing our way. Would you be able to find out?"

Tony stared at him with the distinct feeling that something important had happened but that he'd missed it somehow. "Uh… yeah?"

"Let's go see what Abby and McGee have put together," Gibbs said, hauling MacGyver upright. As his old buddy caught his balance, Gibbs paused a second, turning to shoot a look at DiNozzo. "What are you still doing here?" he demanded. "Get that security footage!"

Tony backed out quickly, and hurried down the hallway.

 _Author's Note: All right, all of you who guessed the identity of our Special Guest wins an imaginary Swiss Army Knife! Those of you who figured out what Tony felt he missed will win an imaginary roll of duct tape!_


	7. Chapter 7: I Know Him Too!

_Note: Congrats to the NCIS Team and everyone associated with it for their 300th Episode, and one heck of a penultimate season finale episode! I think this storyline should have a Surgeon General's Warning: "Exercise Caution While Watching if you Suffer From Chest Pains, Lack of Bladder Control, Vertigo, Separation Anxiety..." We'll Miss You, Michael Weatherly!_

Down in the Lab, McGee hung up his cell phone, announcing, "Tony just called. Gibbs is on his way down. With our suspect, who's apparently no longer a suspect." As Abby shot him a confused stare, McGee nodded. "You're not going to believe this! Gibbs knows him!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know, but he's looking for pictures this guy took of the shooting."

Abby shook her head as she investigated the antiquated plastic box before her, the one that had nearly blinded her when she first picked it up. "I think this is a camera, but I honestly can't tell! Where's the film? I can't open this up, and I don't want to risk breaking it if its owner knows Gibbs somehow." She stabbed angrily at the item. "I hate that we don't have anything to give him! Gibbs is going to come down here and ask what we have, and I'll have to tell him that we have a whole lot of nothing. I'd at least like to find those pictures Tony told us about!"

McGee picked the small black box up and rotated it. "I wonder if I can find any information on the Internet about it… This thing looks old enough, though, that the Internet wasn't even around when it was built!"

Abby perked up when she heard the elevator's tell-tale 'ding' over the clacking of McGee's fingers on the keyboard. "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she exclaimed, rounding to greet him as he strode through the door.

The former (?) 'suspect' walked in with him, and Abby looked him over. He looked absolutely exhausted, like he'd been on the run for a week. Moving past that, her eyebrows rose in appreciation of his athletic good looks. There was something familiar about the smooth, ageless face and the sandy hair worn on the longish side. When he met her gaze, he lit up wth recognition and a delighted smile curved boyishly on his lips.

Abby stepped right up to him, her nose only an inch away from his own. Her frosty emerald eyes met his warm brown ones for a long moment before she stepped back. "McGee, you're not going to believe this, but I know him too! But where do I know you from?" she demanded, squinting at him. When his only response (the only response he could have fit into the millisecond she offered) was an expectant smile, she again bounded up to him and stared deeply into his eyes. "Who are you?"

He gave her an extra second to figure it out, then grinned widely. "Abs, I could almost be hurt that you don't remember me! I'll give you a hint; what's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?"

"Huh?" McGee couldn't help but ask.

Even Abby looked confused, but when he tossed her what looked like a farewell wave, an old memory rose to the surface. "One you see 'later', and the other 'after a while'…" Her dark lips parted, then her face brightened with realization. " _MacGyver_ from the _Phoenix Foundation_! Oh, I can't believe this! This is so amazing! After all this time… Oh, wow!" she squealed in delight, throwing her arms around him

"Abs!" Gibbs exclaimed, catching MacGyver as her enthusiastic embrace buckled his knees. "Abby, cut that out! Explain!"

She let MacGyver go so quickly that he lost balance and nearly tipped over while she danced in a quick circle, repeating, "MacGyver, from the Phoenix Foundation!" She beamed at the two baffled agents staring at her. "When I was in High School, there was this multi-faceted environmental study being conducted. My school offered those of us in the science field a chance to volunteer, and I jumped at it! I worked with him on that, both in the field and in the lab!"

"Abby Scuito from Jefferson Parish, my right hand in the consecutive Levy Repair and Alligator Repopulation projects. You were the brilliant bouncing ball of energy that helped me design and implement the sonic barrier to keep the gators out of the construction area."

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "I watched you 'MacGyver' a fix for our inflatable raft with an acetylene torch and a raincoat when that gator chewed a hole in it!"

He grinned as the details came back to him. "I remember that! You didn't panic… and that was probably the only reason we got out of that without being eaten!"

"And when the levies kept getting sabotaged?" Abby reminded him.

"You helped me figure a way to ID those responsible. That mud was not easy to make a footprint mold of!"

Noticing the pleased surprise on Gibbs' and McGee's faces, Abby beamed at them, then returned the brilliance of her smile back to her former mentor. "I want to thank you, Mac; your encouragement of my goals to be a forensic scientist really helped me when others tried to persuade me to change majors!"

Mac was actually blushing. "Aww, wow. You've done yourself proud, Abby! I knew you were going to go far… and look at you now!"

"I'm glad to see you're still with the the Phoenix Foundation… but would you mind telling me why the Foundation won't release any information about you?" Her dark eyebrows lowered as one of her computer screens flashed a red box, and she turned away to read the screen. "I had a hard time running your fingerprints…"

Stretching his long fingers out to examine them, Mac admitted, "I don't have many prints left."

"But I managed," Abby steamrolled. "What I _had_ of your prints are in the system, but they're classified. And I _still_ can't figure out why you have only one name."

"Abs," Gibbs sighed, signaling for her to get back on track. "We've got more important things to do."

As only Abby could, she switched gears instantly, whirling back to the table and picking up the plastic item before them. "We found… this, whatever it is… in the Jeep. We can't seem to figure out how to process the film…." She broke off in defensive surprise as both Gibbs and MacGyver started chuckling. "What?"

Gibbs tried to hide his amusement to spare her feelings. "It's a Polaroid, Abs!"

It was obvious that still didn't clarify matters. MacGyver made an attempt while following Gibbs' cue and swallowing his grin. "The whole point of a Polaroid is that it develops its own film on the spot. Did you find any square photographs?" When Abby shook her head, Mac scrunched his eyes up in an attempt to remember where they might have ended up. "Try the yellow envelope that was next to the driver's seat. I dumped them in there when they fell out of the camera."

Abby whipped around so fast her pigtails lashed against her neck. "We hadn't gotten to that yet. We were too busy trying to figure this out." She dug the envelope out of the plastic evidence bag, pouring the enclosed photos out onto the desk.

"They stopped making this brand and style over a decade ago," McGee mentioned, holding the ancient camera up and reading the results of his Internet search on the item. "Where on earth do you buy film for this?"

"Buy? You can't buy that anymore. I have to make my own."

Even Gibbs turned to stare at him in confusion. "Why don't you just get a new camera?"

Mac shrugged. "This one still works?"

Gibbs snorted. "The Jeep? The Polaroid? You really don't change, do you?"

"Thank God, no!" Mac laughed. "Appreciate the classics, but embrace the new, right? It's a hobby of mine, although I do stay on the cutting edge of modern technology…" He glanced at Abby and McGee, noticing with trepidation that his laptop was on the table, sprouting wires like an old potato. "I know you have to go through everything, but please be careful with that."

"Absolutely!" Abby insisted. "We're treating it with kid gloves as we process it!"

McGee gestured to the laptop. "Speaking of 'Cutting Edge'...What's with the security on this? Might make it easier for us to process if you give us access."

"You tried to mirror the hard drive, right? Well, that's what locked it up. Did you guys notice the sensors on the letters 'a' and 'k'?" He couldn't help a grin as Abby and McGee nearly bumped heads as they dove to examine the laptop. "When I use the keyboard, it picks up..."

"Your biometrics," Abby interrupted as a lightbulb went off. "Basically, you are the one and only key to the encryption! That's handy, but what if something were to happen to you?"

"There is a decryption program built in to the software, but it has to be unlocked from the Security Department at the Phoenix Foundation first, and then the same code used with the laptop within five minutes of generation."

When an expectant silence followed his words, Mac glanced at Gibbs. "Did I miss something?"

Gibbs gestured towards the computer. "Unlock it!"

Mac carefully disconnected the leads and put his fingers on the keyboard. He tapped the keys a few times, then shook his head. "I hate to say, but you guys tripped the 'dead-man's lock'. The computer thinks something's happened to me, and that you're trying to fake your way in using my prints... such as they are," he said, wiggling all ten long digits. It was obvious that, while he still had full use of them, most of his fingerprints had been burned off over the years.

Gibbs reached over to the desk and handed Mac the receiver from Abby's phone. "Make your call."

MacGyver replaced the receiver gingerly, giving Gibbs a pained smile. "Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I'll need my phone to do it."

Gibbs turned back to Abby and McGee. "Get him his phone," he directed.

Both of them sifted through the evidence bags on the table. "I don't remember seeing a phone," McGee admitted.

"I don't either," Abby said, reading over the list that had come in with all of the boxes from the crime scene.

Mac looked genuinely nervous. "I really need to call in, Gibbs. There will be a lot of people worried about me, and I need to tell them that I'm all right. If it's not here, it must still be back at the crime scene."

Gibbs tugged his phone from his pocket and dialed. "DiNozzo! You pick up that footage yet? Good. Head back to the crime scene. Mac's cell phone isn't in Evidence. Find it." He hung up and jammed the phone back into his pocket before listening to DiNozzo's answer.

"Your conversational skills still amaze me," MacGyver said with a shrug. "I hope he finds it. You do not want to jump through the hoops necessary to do this the hard way."

McGee's jaw dropped incredulously. "This is the _easy_ way?" When their guest nodded, Tim grew curious. "What's so important about the encryption on your phone? Why not call in on a regular line, and have them scramble it from their end?"

"Long story, there," MacGyver sighed. "Let's just say that there's a lot about the Phoenix Foundation that is highly classified, and now that the laptop's programming thinks it's been compromised, there's only one way to get access without jumping through unimaginable hoops."

Gibbs again made a gesture that incited everyone to get back on track. "The pictures, Abs." Turning back to MacGyver and noting the unease on his face, Gibbs nudged him in the ribs. "DiNozzo'll find it. Focus on this first."

Abby had arranged the square photographs on the desk before her, and at Gibbs' nod, she slid a few of the photos under her microscope, putting the captured images up on the plasma screen. "Surprisingly, these are clear enough that I can probably run facial recognition on them. It looks like our Petty Officer knew his attacker."

"Or at least thought he did," Mac added as the next images were projected. "That's The Cougar, a singularly unpleasant man with an even more unpleasant occupation. Oh, good; I got a clear shot of his car… Please run the plates on that, Tim. It looks to me like Andy was going into this meet with an idea of who he was meeting with…" He gestured for Abby to swap out the next picture. "…and this guy here wasn't what he was expecting. He's back-pedaling here, turning to run, and then…"

"Boom," Abby agreed as the next picture showed the literal 'smoking gun' moment.

"An inch higher, and I might have been able to save him," Mac mumbled, his voice dropping as he looked down.

Gibbs slid a look at him out of the corner of his eye. "Don't start."

Mac's expression grew challenging. "You're going to tell me there was nothing I could do? I'd been following this kid for three days. I had a pretty good idea what he was aiming to do, and I was too far away to stop him… and you're going to tell me I couldn't have done anything else?"

A sharp nod accompanied an even sharper, "Yup." Gibbs stabbed a finger at the screen. "Why were you following this kid in the first place?"

"A favor to an old 'friend'. You remember Jack?"

"Dalton?" Gibbs groaned. "Jeez, Mac!"

"I know, I know!" Mac protested, throwing his hands up. "Even Pete couldn't ever figure out why I kept getting mixed up with him..." He noticed the confusion on Abby and McGee's face, and clarified, "Pete Thornton was my old Director, as well as my best friend." Wincing under the weight of Gibbs' disapproving glare, Mac attempted to defend himself again. "I hadn't seen Jack in years, and I guess I'd blanked out most of those memories… I kinda hoped he might've grown up a little bit."

Gibbs' expression clearly indicated his thoughts on that subject, and they weren't favorable. "So, Jack asked you to tail this kid?"

"Yeah… Turns out he was the son of one of Jack's pilots. They were afraid he was getting into trouble, and they wanted me to see what he was up to."

"Yeah?"

"Obviously, he was in trouble," Mac concluded. "Still not a hundred percent sure what he was involved in, though. Jack wasn't too clear on the details, if that comes as a surprise to you." He couldn't help a snort of wry amusement at Gibbs's heavenward gaze.

"You said, 'one of Jack's pilots'?" Gibbs backtracked.

Mac spread his hands wide in a gesture of disbelief. "Yeah, Dalton Airlines is alive and running. Out of the Caymans, but it's alive and running!"

 _..._

 _Note: So, is this the "Mystery Friend In Common"? For those who say "No!" you have just won yourselves an imaginary box of paperclips. Small ones. The Jumbo size will be awarded later._


	8. Chapter 8: Never Sleep Thru A Briefing

_Author's Note: To all of you that are having as much fun with this as I am, thank you so much for your kind reviews!_

Bishop looked at DiNozzo over the top of her computer screen. "So, he had an idea to help investigate the case, and you were sent to follow up on it," Bishop clarified as DiNozzo growled at his keyboard. "Why are you so upset?"

Tony had storm clouds on his face as he looked up. "Because this guy was our suspect, in Interrogation, and not being cooperative. All of a sudden he's telling _me_ how to do _my_ job? And then I have to go play Lost and Found for him? Who _is_ this guy?"

"Obviously, Gibbs knows him, which gives me a good feeling that we'll find out," Bishop reasoned. "And I have a feeling they'll be up here pretty soon looking for our results. I'd like to have a report to give them when they do."

"After an hour of searching I still hadn't found that phone of his," DiNozzo grumbled to himself as he slid the CD into the tray on his computer. "I figured I'd come back here and see what we had on this." He moved through the images until he found the correct time-stamp, then let the footage play. "Open and shut," he had to admit aloud. "We have a direct view of the whole thing. All we have to do is identify the shooter, find him, and take him into custody."

"Then go find that missing phone," Bishop reminded him. She smiled to herself as Tony rolled his eyes at her. She was glad he stopped mumbling to himself as he started running background checks on their victim. She was also glad that they had all the information up on the screens when Gibbs and MacGyver hit the bull pen.

Mac strode directly to Tony and offered his hand. "Nice to officially meet you, DiNozzo!"

DiNozzo accepted the handshake, but it was cold and perfunctory. " _Very Special_ Agent, Anthony DiNozzo," he clarified, bristling at the new guy's familiarity.

The quirk in MacGyver's eyebrows indicated he'd caught the snub but chose to ignore it. "… and also _'Very Special'_ Agent…?" he asked leadingly, turning to Bishop with a charming grin.

"Ellie Bishop," she smiled back.

"My name's MacGyver," Mac said as he offered her a warm handshake as well. "Sorry I was a bit grumpy back there at the scene. Nothing worse than mixing protocol and starvation, you understand..."

"You knew the victim?" Tony demanded, stepping between MacGyver and Bishop on purpose to pick up the remote for the plasma screen. He could feel Gibbs' sudden irritation radiating towards him, but he didn't care.

"Not personally… He's the…." Mac paused as a yawn snuck up on him.

"Mac's checking up on this kid for a buddy of his," Gibbs condensed, finally turning away from skewering DiNozzo with his blue glare. "Did you find that phone?"

DiNozzo squared his shoulders. "No, Boss, I didn't. Maybe McGee could ping it. I figured the video evidence would be a good place to start, and we could go back to the phone."

Gibbs grumbled under his breath as he turned away, pulled a pad of paper and pen from his desk and pushed them into MacGyver's hands. "Phone number," he ordered. As Mac started to write, Gibbs tossed a look back at DiNozzo. "Victim?"

In the split second when DiNozzo paused to pull in a breath, Mac jumped in. "Andy Schwimmer. 22 years young; all enthusiasm, _very_ little common sense. Son of Natalie Schwimmer, a pilot employed by Dalton Airlines."

Not to be out-done, DiNozzo stepped up, advancing the slide on the screen. "Natalie Schwimmer married Jack Dalton of Dalton Airlines ten years ago. Andy was adopted by Jack Dalton at the time…" His triumphant glare thrown at MacGyver was lost when he read the other man's reaction.

Mac's jaw dropped, and his dark brown eyes were bottomless with grief. "I didn't know that! Aww, man… Poor Jack! Has the family been notified?"

Bishop looked down at her papers. "I believe that's happening as we speak."

Mac turned away and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The poor guy can't catch a break. I didn't even know he was married."

"It _has_ been a long time, then," Gibbs said in surprise. "How long?"

"Fifteen years," Mac sighed. "Our last adventure was… a little closer of a call than usual, even for Jack. We parted as friends, but he went to the Caymans and I ended up going back to the Foundation. Time got a way from me, I guess."

Gibbs bounced a shoulder. "Happens… Been about fifteen since we've seen each other."

Mac looked like he wanted to smile but couldn't. "True, that."

Unable to help himself, DiNozzo looked between his Boss and the new guy. "You guys were close?"

"We got in our fair share of scrapes," MacGyver filled in when Gibbs seemed disinclined to comment. "The Phoenix Foundation worked with the Marines on a few special projects; we had a ten year contract. We kept in touch for a while afterward..."

"Kinda…" Gibbs needled.

Mac seemed a little embarrassed. "Yeah, time passes…" Wanting to get a little of his own back, he rallied and threw Gibbs a look. "You didn't go and get married again while I wasn't looking, did you?"

It was Gibbs' turn to look uneasy. He hesitated for a long second, then raised two fingers before changing the subject by turning back to DiNozzo. "What else?"

"Twice, Gibbs? Really?" Shaking off his astonishment, it was MacGyver that answered. "Anyway… Schwimmer hit town on Leave with his shipmates, and seemed in a hurry to hunt down the local 'color'. He went to every seedy bar in the city, hunting for somebody named 'The Cougar'. Some kind of hustler, drug dealer, or arms runner, from what I could tell."

"All three," DiNozzo jumped back in, unhappy with the idea of MacGyver running his briefing. "Enrique Filipe Salazar, aka 'The Cougar', is quite the entrepreneur. He has branches all over the country, but his main operations are out of this area. Sales and Services out of DC, and Production rumored to be out of the deep woods of Virginia."

"How do you know about 'The Cougar'?" MacGyver asked, sinking into Gibbs' chair as exhaustion claimed him.

"Abby got a hit on the facial recognition from those…photos?… you'd taken. He's wanted in forty-nine of the fifty States, plus a few islands close by."

"Where is he now?" Gibbs demanded.

"Closed up shop and made like a rabbit. We're looking, Boss. Got BOLO's out with every branch of law enforcement."

"Any idea why your friend's kid would be tied up with a guy like this?" Gibbs asked, still staring at the screen. When there was no answer, the three agents turned to look at their guest.

Scrunched down in Gibbs' chair, Mac was fast asleep.

Gibbs lowered his voice. "Track Schwimmer's movements from the moment his feet hit the ground until we got the case. I want to know everywhere that kid's been."

DiNozzo had to ask. "How much do you trust this MacGyver? Do you think we got the whole story from him?"

Gibbs stared at his old buddy for a moment, a myriad of memories darkening his eyes. "I trust him."

"You said it yourself; you haven't seen him in fifteen years…" Bishop added in, following Tony's thought process.

Gibbs shook his head shortly. "There are two kinds of people in this world; MacGyver, and everybody else."

That statement hung in the air while Gibbs' phone rang, and he tugged it out of his pocket to answer it.

"What does that even mean?" Bishop wondered, whispering to Tony.

DiNozzo shrugged. "I haven't the faintest."

"I'll put a rush on getting his file from the Phoenix Foundation," Bishop decided, heading back to her desk.

"Mac? Wake up. Ducky needs us," Gibbs said, putting a hand on MacGyver's shoulder. When the exhausted man didn't even twitch, Gibbs shook him gently. MacGyver's head rolled, but otherwise he didn't move. Gibbs' next shake wasn't so gentle, and Mac groaned.

"He needs a cup of coffee!" DiNozzo exclaimed, in awe that a person could be so physically drained that a 'Gibbs Glare' alone wouldn't jolt him to action. "Boss, one of your high-test ones ought to do the trick."

"I don't drink coffee," Mac grumbled, clawing his way back to consciousness as Gibbs hauled him upright by the lapels.

"You don't? Then why did you ask us for a cup earlier?" Tony demanded.

"Desperation," Mac sighed.

"Mac, you're gonna want to hear this," Gibbs said, herding him towards the elevator. "We're gonna go see our Medical Examiner. DiNozzo, toss me the keys."

Tony paused halfway to his desk. "The keys, Boss? Ducky's downstairs in Autopsy."

Gibbs' glare motivated DiNozzo to action, and when the keys hit his palm, Gibbs was again shoving MacGyver towards the elevator. "Ducky's at the hospital. Load up; let's go!"

Bishop and DiNozzo scrambled to follow.

 _..._

 _Note: Awwwwww... G'night, Mac!_

 _So, I have this complicated chart laid out somewhere that, if I remember reading it right, MacGyver would have last spoken to Gibbs somewhere after he and Diane had divorced. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it..._

 _Oddly enough, the name for our Villain popped into my head with no apparent back-story. It was only after re-watching the episode where Mac and Dalton go rescue Pete and his nun-girlfriend from the guerrillas that I realized where the name came from. I thought it was oddly fitting, seeing Mac had to go to Jack to beg for help on that one. Oh, Irony, how I love_ _you..._


	9. Chapter 9: Duct Tape WILL Save Your Life

"It was one of the most fantastic things I've ever seen!" Ducky exclaimed, pacing the short hallway outside of the Operating Room. "We had gotten the poor lad on the gurney and were pushing him towards the back of our van. Mister Palmer heard something strange as we hit a bump in the concrete, so he checked inside the body bag before we loaded him up. Our victim had started breathing! Fortunately, there was an ambulance parked beside our van, so we were able to load him and transport him in seconds."

"How could that happen? He was dead!" MacGyver demanded. "I don't meant to argue with you, Doctor, but I was there when it happened. I tried to save him. He stopped breathing right there in front of me."

"I believe you," Ducky nodded. "Getting bumped around on the gurney must have stimulated his respiratory system. It's almost miraculous."

"I don't get it," DiNozzo said in confusion. "A gunshot wound to the heart is normally a one-way ticket to the morgue."

"It missed the heart by a millimeter. I remember commenting at the scene at the lack of bleeding. With a wound such as this the lad would have bled out almost instantly, and yet I saw no evidence of that. It seems there is an explanation to that after all; the piece of duct tape that someone stuffed into the wound. The surgeon just found it a few moments ago. It created a seal around the artery and kept the young man alive."

Tony's jaw hung open. "Duct tape?"

Gibbs and Ducky both turned to stare pointedly at MacGyver, who was looking away and scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Duct tape?" Tony demanded again. "Who on earth would use Duct tape to treat a gunshot wound to the chest?"

"Sounds like something you'd do, Mac!" Gibbs said with a shake of his head.

"First time that actually worked, though!" Mac returned in disbelief. "I hope somebody told his family!"

"They're on their way back," Bishop assured him.

"Jack's gonna kill me. First he gets that dreaded knock on the door and two guys in suits breaking the worst news of his life, then he gets a second knock on the door and the same two guys in suits with a retraction; 'Oops, sorry; we were wrong!'."

"You saved his son's life, Mr. MacGyver," Ducky corrected gently. "I think your friend will be extremely grateful for that."

"I guess you're right, Doctor Mallard," he said with a tired grin.

"Please, Mr. MacGyver; call me Ducky," the Scotsman offered.

"Only if you'll call me Mac," MacGyver returned.

Ducky cocked his head slightly. "Your first name is Mac?"

"My friends call me MacGyver. My close friends call me Mac," was the only answer he would give. "What do you think Andy's chances are?"

"He'll need plenty of care; survival doesn't translate directly to a pass from the consequences, unfortunately. I suspect he will be in hospital for quite a while, and will need extensive therapy and rehab later, but his chances are better than most gunshot victims."

...

 _Note: Standard Disclaimer: While Mac made it work, Do Not Try This At Home! According to the Society of Lab Coat Wearing Professionals, Duct Tape is not the recommended treatment for a GSW..._


	10. Chapter 10: A Little Catching Up

_Thank you to those who have taken the time to review! You've given me loads of fabulous ideas for the next two stories in the "Unforgettable Friends" series, which I already had started. "Ideas are like popcorn; rather too much than not enough!" Thank you!_

— — — — —

Gibbs stopped the car at an intersection, using the moment to glance over at the passenger seat. Mac slept like one dead, his face pressed into the upholstery of the seat. It had been a decade and a half since he'd seen MacGyver, but Gibbs was amazed at how little the man had changed. He was still as athletic and animated as Gibbs had remembered, still lean and fit and ready for adventure. There weren't as many wrinkles on his face or as much silver in his hair as Gibbs watched appear on his own in the ensuing years, but Gibbs remembered that Mac had always been near-fanatical about his health; he refused to drink or smoke, and rarely did he eat meat or junk food.

Mac was sleeping so soundly that Gibbs hated the thought of waking him when they finally pulled up in front of Gibbs' home. He debated on driving around the block a few times, but then chuckled at the thought of MacGyver grumbling about being coddled like an infant.

"Mac! We're here, buddy. Wake up!"

MacGyver startled awake, gripping the door handle with enough strength to whiten his knuckles. "What? Where… Pete?" he stuttered, but when he realized where he was, he scrubbed a hand over his face. "Why are we at your house?"

"So you can stop drooling into my upholstery!" Gibbs retorted. "You need a break, and if you think I'm letting you stay in a flea-bitten hotel, you're wrong."

"I appreciate the hospitality," Mac yawned. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."

"Y'look like death warmed over," Gibbs informed him. "How is Pete, by the way? I haven't talked to Thornton in quite a while."

For the briefest of moments, MacGyver looked as lost as an orphaned child, but he pulled himself together and faked a smile. "He'd hate to be missing out on a case like this."

Gibbs paused in the middle of pulling the keys out of the ignition. "Pete…?"

"He went out like he lived; upright, honest, and surrounded by friends," Mac said bravely. At Gibbs' shocked expression, Mac's face crumpled. "We lost him in 2005. He wouldn't really say what it was… but he was hurting, Gibbs. Glaucoma blinded him, but he was hurting really bad. He tried to hide it, but I knew him too well. He worked until he couldn't, then we threw him the biggest retirement party in the history of the Phoenix Foundation. He came back to my place for the evening… and that was it. He just didn't wake up the next morning."

"Aww, Mac…"

Mac pushed the door open and clambered out of the car, swiping his sleeve across his face as he stood. "Thanks. You got any tea in your kitchen?"

"Yeah… C'mon." They made their way to the front door, which Gibbs pushed open.

"You still don't lock your door?" Mac remembered. "There are times I wonder why I still bother locking mine."

"Where are you living now?" Gibbs asked as he made his way through to the kitchen. "You move around a lot."

"Yeah, it gets dangerous when too many people know where I live," Mac responded, watching as Gibbs picked the tea pot off of the stove and filled it with water at the sink. "Pete left me a cabin in the woods, and I've got a place closer to the Foundation that I currently call home."

Gibbs put the water on to boil and tossed his cabinets for his tea. "Still jetting around the world? Or have you given up field work?"

Mac rubbed a hand through his hair as he dropped into a chair by the table. "I'm here now, aren't I?" he chuckled, but there was something more than exhaustion making his voice brittle. He refused to meet Gibbs' searching gaze, instead accepting the offered cup of hot water and the looseleaf tea in the infuser without looking.

"Mac?"

Mac watched the water swirl and darken in the mug.

Gibbs waited with unusual patience, but when it was obvious that MacGyver wasn't going to be volunteering any further information, he decided to let the matter drop. He was curious to be sure, but he also trusted MacGyver implicitly. When a guy jumped out of a helicopter over a jungle filled with armed cartel members to rescue an injured soldier, then refused to leave without also providing a safe escape for the six orphaned children who had cared for the injured soldier, one couldn't help but trust the guy…especially if one had been that injured soldier…

"I'll get the guest room ready for you," Gibbs offered, leaving Mac staring into his tea. He took the stairs two at a time, threw sheets on the bed in the spare bedroom, and made sure the bathroom was stocked with all necessary supplies. He also tossed in a pair of sweats for Mac to change into. Satisfied that everything was as prepared as he could make it, he headed back downstairs, to discover MacGyver fast asleep, his cheek resting on the table top.

 _..._

 _Note: We Miss You, Dana Elcar!_


	11. Chapter 11: Digging Up the Phoenix

DiNozzo strode out of the elevator, with Bishop right behind him. "I can't believe Gibbs left us at the hospital!" Tony was complaining as he neared his desk and threw his gear down on the floor.

"Gibbs left you at the hospital?" McGee repeated in surprise, knowing there was more to the story than that. "How did you get to the crime scene to find the phone, then?"

"He had Ducky give us a ride," Bishop reminded Tony as she stowed her own gear behind her desk and sat down. "It's not like Gibbs abandoned us there!"

"He left us so he could take this MacGyver character back to his house for a nap!" Tony grumbled, pulling up his email with angry clicks of his mouse.

"This 'MacGyver character' is a witness to an attempted murder, Tony! He's so exhausted that he fell asleep in the middle of a briefing. If we're going to get any useful information out of him, we need him conscious!" She ignored Tony's grumpy face as she pulled up her own messages and quickly scanned through them. "Still nothing from The Phoenix Foundation on MacGyver. I wonder why an organization with such a good reputation of working with Law Enforcement is being so uncooperative with us? I'm going to call them and request that file again."

Tony turned to McGee as she picked up her phone and dialed. "What did you and Abby find? Any further antiquated technology that will be the silver bullet in our chain of evidence?"

McGee picked up the remote and put his findings up on the plasma screen. "To be honest, MacGyver had an elaborate tracking device placed somewhere on our victim… It's still pinging from the hospital, and we can't quite figure out where it is on his person; we have all of his clothes here for processing. That device feeds into a GPS and Satellite monitoring program on MacGyver's laptop that will hopefully give us everything we need to know about his physical location...and that's the only part of that laptop that we managed to get access to before it locked up on us. Abby's at work on the phone right now. The warrant came through, and we're tracing Schwimmer's cell phone and credit card usage. The only thing we still don't know is why Schwimmer was looking for The Cougar in the first place. I can't wait to get access to the rest of that laptop; he's probably got the remainder of our case wrapped up in a neat little bow."

"I don't believe you understand me," Bishop exclaimed into the telephone, her voice still professional but growing in volume. "I am Special Agent Ellie Bishop, from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and I'm asking for information on a Phoenix employee by the name of MacGyver, first name unknown. This is in reference to an attempted murder we are investigating!"

Tony and McGee watched as she drew a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "I wonder what's going on," Tony mentioned in an aside to McGee. "Something's really strange here."

"Agreed," McGee nodded.

"I am not authorized to allow you to speak to Mr. MacGyver at this moment; he is currently with our Senior Field Agent….nor am I cleared to comment on his condition." She held the phone away from her ear for a moment as she shook her head at Tony. Pressing the phone once more to her ear, she continued. "If you don't have clearance to provide this information, Assistant Director Malloy, perhaps your Director would! May I speak to your director?" Bishop listened to the response, disbelief crossing her face. "What do you mean, 'you're not authorized to allow us to speak to your director at the moment'? I am trying to… He's out of town? Please have him call us as soon as possible. Thank you."

"I don't believe this," Tony said, standing and crossing to McGee's desk. "How about we do a little investigating of our own on this guy?"

McGee's fingers were already flying across the keyboard. "Way ahead of you, Tony… I just need to circumvent the firewall….? What on earth…?"

Tony leaned over his shoulder, not understanding the zeros and ones at all. "What's up, McGee?" he asked, as Tim scowled and dove back in.

"I thought the encryption on MacGyver's laptop was crazy! I have never seen cyber-security like this before. It's actually a tougher set of code to beat than the Pentagon!"

"What is The Phoenix Foundation up to?" Bishop asked as she joined the party behind Tim's desk. "I've heard the name, but I thought it was tree-hugging eco-rescue stuff."

"That's part of it," Tim nodded, abandoning his first attempt and trying something different. He accessed the Foundation's web page, attempting to tunnel in that way. "It's a 'Think Tank', heavy into research." He found a new page, and started reeling off the Foundation's current projects. "Their scientists have pioneered eco-friendly pesticides that don't harm the environment, they've developed new technology in the field of alternative fuel sources for the automotive industry, made incredible advances in the healthcare industry; specifically artificial limbs and organs for the catastrophically injured…" McGee paused as he read something that surprised him. "They've created satellite locators for military personnel that can be implanted subcutaneously and are undetectable to ground-based scanners, so if someone is lost or taken prisoner, they can be tracked anywhere on the planet… which explains how MacGyver was able to tail Schwimmer so closely!"

"So this sounds like a great organization," Tony had to admit. "But why are they giving us the stone wall?"

McGee didn't answer, instead working his magic with the keyboard. "I think I might have found a way in," he said in triumph as a personnel file flashed up on the screen. "Wow…the folder of mission synopses alone is nearly five gigs! I've got specs going back thirty-five years… Some of the stuff he's been involved with has been crazy!"

"Print it," Tony ordered. "I want to know as much as I can on this guy before I'm comfortable working with him."

"Gibbs seems to trust him," McGee reminded him. "You know how good a judge of character Gibbs is."

"Something about him… I don't know what to make of it." Tony spun to the printer, waiting for the pages to collect. "He knew my name!" Tony exclaimed suddenly, whipping around to stare at McGee.

"What?"

Tony ground his fist into his other hand. "When I interrupted what I thought was Gibbs about to kill our suspect in Interrogation, Gibbs introduced MacGyver to me, but didn't introduce me to MacGyver, who then called me, 'Tony' when he asked me about the evidence we'd collected. When they came up to the bull pen, MacGyver called me, 'DiNozzo'!"

Tim looked thoughtful. "He knew Abby, so maybe they… No, he knew her when she was in High School and apparently hasn't seen her since. You know what? When he and Gibbs came into Abby's lab, MacGyver asked me to run The Cougar's plates."

DiNozzo shook his head. "How would MacGyver know to ask you to do that?"

McGee paused to give Tony a confused look. "Maybe because I was standing in the Forensics Lab, and that's something normally done there? That's not what got me, though. He called me 'Tim' when he did it… Gibbs hadn't introduced us yet either," McGee remembered.

A large enough stack had collected on the top of the printer, so Tony picked it up and paged through it. "This is an unbelievable amount of information!"

Tim kept reading. "Distinguished service awards from his service in the military; bomb disposal in Vietnam, apparently. He then worked as an agent for something called the DXS…"

Bishop's head jerked up. "The Department of External Services? I thought that was just a myth!"

Tim shrugged. "After that not-so-mythological agency dissolved in the mid '80's, he and Pete Thornton became heavily involved with the Phoenix Foundation, and… Okay, so that's why we weren't able to track down the Director!"

Bishop tilted her head to the side. "Why not?"

"Because MacGyver IS the Director! He has served in that office for the last eleven years, since the founder and first director, Peter Thornton, passed away."

"Why is a field agent turned Director of a think-tank research organization trailing a Navy Officer through DC?" Bishop asked.

"MacGyver said that he was doing this as a favor to his 'friend', Jack Dalton," McGee remembered. "Gibbs seemed to know this Dalton as well, but I get the feeling that they were much less than friends."

"And this guy knows a whole lot about us, having just met us over a pair of handcuffs," Tony added darkly. "I think we need to get reading."


	12. Chapter 12: Insomnia

_MacGyver's Voiceover: I've never had problems falling asleep. You know the old saying, "A clear conscience makes a soft pillow?" Aside from the fact that Gibbs must have bought his bedroom furnishings in a quarry, my figurative pillow wasn't as soft as I was used to. I was beyond exhausted, so my body giving in to the demands for sleep was one thing, but I was having trouble shutting my mind down._

 _I knew what was bothering me, too. Oh, sure, this case was something else… I hadn't worked an Op like this in a long time. If I wanted to be honest about it, I'd been stuck in Physical Therapy and then behind my desk for two years since my last Op nearly killed me. It felt good to get out into the Field again and stretch the old muscles… however, getting suckered into helping an old buddy of mine, finding out that the kid I'd almost let get killed on my watch was Jack's adopted son, and then discovering I'd known the leader of the investigative team that had picked up the case was a little weird. What was keeping my sleep from being completely peaceful was what else I knew… and how I knew it. Not being able to tell them about it was probably going to keep the old wheels spinning up there for a long time yet. Grreeeaaatttt…_

 _..._

Note: This begs the question; Can one have a nightmare if one can't even get to sleep?


	13. Chapter 13: The Unforgettable Friend

_Note 1: OMG, the Season Finale! Wow... I don't even have words!_

 _Note 2: I realize that in this technological age, all the information that Tony asked McGee to 'print' would be digital. However, the opening line to this chapter always makes my grandmother dissolve into the giggles, so I_ had _to keep it in...which meant that Mac's files had to be printed out. And, it makes it easier for Mac to begin his_ _reminiscence. So, basically I'm just asking you to go with me on the whole hard-copy thing :)_

* * *

Three reams of paper and an extra ink cartridge later, the printer was _still_ spitting out pages of MacGyver's exploits. Bishop had separated out the cases, loading them into a set of three-ring binders so they'd be easier to work with. Tony accepted one of the binders as he continued to pull stacks of paper off of the printer. "This reads like an adventure novel… How have we never heard of this guy before?"

"I remember the details of some of these cases," McGee chimed in, flipping pages and looking up information on his computer at the same time. "Now that I'm reading all of this in context, I know I've heard that the Phoenix Foundation has been involved in a lot of stuff, but I guess they want just enough credit to keep them in government grants, but not enough that they're too well known by the criminal underworld."

"He flies solo most of the time," Bishop revealed. "They sent him in alone when other agencies, ours included, would send in a whole team."

"I guess when you have as much experience as he does, you don't need people getting in your way," McGee shrugged. "Wow… He was all over Europe before the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell… I was just a kid when all of that went down."

"He's gotta be about Gibbs' age," DiNozzo agreed.

McGee looked back at his screen, then raised his head and scanned the area for any sign of Gibbs' presence. Not seeing the Boss, but not willing to risk getting in trouble either, McGee pitched his voice lower. "He's older, actually… by about eight years!"

Tony blinked in surprise. "I hope I look that good when I get there!"

Bishop pinked a little as the words, "Nobody else could look that good!" escaped her lips. When she realized that both DiNozzo and McGee were staring at her, she reddened. "Maybe you guys wouldn't notice this, but he's… _really_ good looking."

"He's old enough to be your _father_ ," McGee reminded her.

"So?" Bishop bristled. "Any guy who keeps himself in good physical condition and has cheekbones like that can be attractive at any age!"

The last file printed out, and Tony loaded another ream of paper into the tray before sitting down at his desk. The last case synopsis caught his eye, and he wanted to take a closer look at it.

MacGyver's style of writing was completely unique. There was a veneer of professionalism, because after all, the Phoenix Foundation was a reputable agency that worked with governments around the world. However, MacGyver told the rollicking tale it like it was, without any bureaucratic bragging or sugarcoating. There were a few redactions in the synopsis, but for the most part, all sensitive information had been carefully left out in the initial wording.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: The Field Ops Division received word of a 'situation' somewhere in the Middle East; the exact location and nature of this 'situation' will remain classified. Our source, a former agent from one of the US Intelligence 'Alphabet Soup Groups', brought all kinds of intel and analyzed it with us for weeks. The intel was viable— and terrifying— so the Assistant Director and I took this to the Board. We fought a few rounds with the 'Alphabet Boys' to push them to act on this 'do-or-lots-of-people-are-gonna-die' information. Our informant disappeared, leaving the impression she felt this had to be dealt with… at any cost. Our Board finally agreed, but she was already gone. Normally the Director of Field Ops would be the last person they'd send on a mission like this, but, to be honest, this was far too dangerous for me to send anyone else in… and be able to live with myself if anything should happen to them. I found what I was looking for, right where the intel had said it was going to be. However, my intel said nothing about the added bonus of the three hostages being held by the (REDACTED). To add icing to the cake, one of these hostages was our missing informant. Her inside knowledge of the US 'Intelligence' Agencies meant that I had to get her out of there… and I figured I'd bring the other hostages home too, since I was already in the neighborhood, and all..._

 _The 'situation' went south quickly— you don't deal with folks as serious as that and expect it to be a walk in the park. My new partner and I managed to get the other two hostages to safety, but since she knew what my mission was, she refused to leave with them. Believe me; there was no getting rid of her! She'd learned 'bullheaded stubbornness' from the best; I could guarantee that. The only way to finish the original mission was walk ourselves right into a trap and hope we weren't separated…or blown up. Fortunately, the cage they threw us in was right next to the (REDACTED). While I picked the lock to the cage, figured a way out of the building, and cobbled together some chemicals to blow the whole works sky-high, my new partner fought off our opposition by herself, using a combination of judo, karate, and good old barroom brawling techniques. After the explosion I'd rigged up finished our mission, we high-tailed it for the chopper sent to pick us up._

 _Well, no matter how hard you try to clean up after a party, there are always a few crumbs left over… I heard one coming and pushed her out of the way. It's a good thing the (LINE REDACTED), because when it hit, it didn't have the speed or power behind it. I knew I was either going to bleed out or pass out in seconds… I don't mind admitting that getting hit with one of those things HURT! The adrenaline kept me going until I could talk her through cauterizing it— I'm a little hazy on the details, but she insists we used wires from a spare set of headphones and hooked it up to the chopper's electrical system. She saved my life during that flight. After we'd landed and cycled through the hospital, I invited her to join the Phoenix Foundation but ,'thanks but no thanks,'; she was done working with American Agencies for a while. Any and all information about this mission's details and her identity is to be classified to the highest levels of the Phoenix Foundation."_

Tony realized he was gripping the pages tightly enough to wrinkle the paper. This mystery woman sounded very familiar to him… and he missed her more than he would ever admit. If MacGyver had indeed worked with Ziva, it would help explain how he'd known as much about the NCIS Agents as he had.

Tony was about to order McGee to dig up more information about this particular mission, but he forced himself to pause and think it through. He had to decide if he really wanted to open that can of worms right now; starting a new, unrelated investigation before finishing the one they were in the middle of broke an unnumbered 'Gibbs' Rule'. He also was hesitant to let the others in on his private thoughts about missing his friend. The information wasn't going anywhere, he decided after an internal struggle. If he couldn't strong-arm the whole story out of MacGyver somehow, he could always have McGee go back into it.

"That was sure some thought process," McGee's voice cut in, jolting Tony back to the reality of the other two grinning at him conspiratorially. "What did you get lost in over there?"

Tony immediately slid on his condescending smile, the one he used often to cover his emotional insecurities. "Just trying to put myself in his shoes… What kind of man does this? A thrill seeker out to get his kicks? A glory hound seeking the limelight? A psychopath with a death-wish… Oh, Hi, Boss!" Tony interrupted himself, jumping to his feet as Gibbs rounded the corner of the bullpen.

Instead of blowing past him, Gibbs came right up and stood nose-to-nose with DiNozzo. "MacGyver is one of the _best_ men I've ever known," the Boss said, and while his voice was arctic and warning, there wasn't the danger in it that DiNozzo expected to hear.

DiNozzo pulled himself out of an embarrassed wince. "Understood, Boss!" Feeling emboldened by the lack of anger in Gibbs' expression, DiNozzo cleared his throat. "Boss, I just gotta know…" When the expected head slap didn't follow his words, Tony continued. "First off… where _is_ MacGyver?"

"My house… Sleeping."

"And you're okay with leaving him there all by himself? Of course you are," Tony gibbered as Gibbs' only response was a flicker of an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have left him alone otherwise…"

"Your question, Tony?" Gibbs demanded, taking a half a step back.

"What is it with this guy?" Tony had to ask. "I mean, seriously, Gibbs… It's been fifteen years since you've seen him, he's been everywhere, done everything… what do you really know about him?"

Gibbs drew in a long breath. "You've read his file," he started, glancing at the binders they'd been pouring over. "You know why he's done what he's done."

"No, I don't," Tony admitted. "I'm all for protecting people… that's why I do what I do. I bring bad guys to justice. I've saved my share of lives, so I get that. But if this guy did half of what is written here…"

"He did. Probably more."

Tony shrugged. "Then, why?"

Gibbs picked up one of the binders, paging through it to look for a specific date. When he found it, he passed the book back to Tony. "Read it," he said, tapping the page. When Tony pulled the binder closer and squinted, Gibbs shook his head. "No. Out loud."

A little uneasy with the directions, especially with Bishop and McGee leaning in to catch every word and Gibbs staring at him to make sure he didn't miss a detail, DiNozzo cleared his throat and started in.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: November, 1988. This mission was supposed to be a routine one, typical of being sent to the deepest jungles of South America to rescue a Marine that had been pretty much dumped in the laps of the drug cartels… if one could consider that typical. This Gunny had apparently done quite a bit towards taking apart the cartel… and then had dropped off the face of the planet. My intel said this gunnery sergeant was a smart guy, since he'd successfully survived a similar assignment despite being all shot to pieces… so his chances of survival were better than most. Except for the fact that he'd once again managed to get himself all shot to pieces. I'd come in via chopper, but my plan to rappel down at a nice leisurely pace didn't look like it was going to work out. I ended up having to 'jump' out as a hail of bullets caused the pilot to jerk the controls upwards… Yes, I still hate heights! Fortunately, I landed on the canopy of one of the trees, and managed to shimmy to the ground without being noticed. Our Gunny sure knew how to lay low, so finding him was another adventure. Fortunately, he'd made friends with the locals, and they were able to point me to the rag-tag group of orphaned children who had dragged him out of the forest. Those kids were pretty amazing… and resourceful. Not only did they know enough to keep our Gunny alive, but they also 'appropriated' everything I needed to get us out of there; a canoe that just needed a hasty patch job, the cage and props from an industrial ceiling fan from the drug processing house, a few rolls of duct tape (bless their little thieving hearts!), and a rocket constructed from an old muffler and a touch of kerosene. With their help, we roughed together an air boat that had held together long enough to get everybody, the orphan kids included, back to the military base, and from there, back to the States._

"He risked his life to come find me," Gibbs said. "And he refused to abandon those kids. Four are in Med School, and the other two are in Law School now."

"How many other rescue teams would have felt horrible about leaving those kids there, but left them just the same?" McGee wondered, his voice thick and hushed by awe.

"When you said there were 'two kinds of people in the world; MacGyver and everyone else', I didn't know what you meant. I do now," Bishop added in softly.

Tony gnawed his lower lip. "Thanks, Boss. I understand now."

"He says he saw Salazar shoot Schwimmer… so, let's find Salazar," Gibbs said, taking the binder of mission files out of Tony's hands. "Stop wasting time figuring Mac out. Solve our case."

Tony picked up a pile of papers from the corner of his desk. "We've tracked down three of his drug processing facilities. Since we know Salazar rabbited, we turned this information over to the DEA so they could take down the drug houses."

Gibbs shrugged. "Getting others to do our heavy lifting… I like it. What else?"

As McGee and Bishop dutifully jumped in and reported their findings, Tony's mind drifted back to the dusty Middle Eastern building where MacGyver had met the woman who could only have been Ziva. What did she look like now? Did she miss her old life? Would she ever come back? Tony could almost smell the sandalwood of her hair and see the flash of her eyes in the words Mac had written. He vowed he would get the whole story from MacGyver somehow.

* * *

 _Note: We have a Title! Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have A Title! For those of you who have guessed who the Unforgettable Friend is, you have now won an Imaginary Autographed Box of Jumbo Paperclips! Huzzah!_


	14. Chapter 14:What Is It You're Not Telling

When Gibbs got home that evening, he slipped quietly into the living room. There was evidence that MacGyver had woken up and moved around a little… Gibbs' trained eye could tell that his collection of old Western VHS tapes had been gone through. He wondered which one Mac had watched… or slept through, judging from the new indentations on the couch cushions. MacGyver had also gotten himself some food; there was a distinct and pleasing aroma of garlic and roasted pine nut hovering through the kitchen. A sticky note on the fridge informed him that there were leftovers, and he was welcomed to help himself. When Gibbs tugged the fridge open, he chuckled to himself as he saw all of the plastic containers full of food. Mac had slipped out to the market on the corner and had done some shopping. With his insistence on healthy food, he'd have starved to death in Gibbs' home otherwise.

Gibbs headed to his closet to change, and when he passed the guest room, he heard MacGyver's gentle breathing through the door. Figuring Mac would sleep through the night, Gibbs made the decision to spend some time in the basement.

Hours later, Gibbs was in the midst of plaining a piece of wood when he heard the stairs creak. He looked up, jerking his head in an invitation for MacGyver to join him in the basement. Gibbs almost offered MacGyver a shot from the bottle of Bourbon he kept on the shelf, but he remembered at the last second that Mac never touched the stuff… except to use it as a fuel for one of his harebrained homemade bombs.

"You eat anything?" MacGyver asked, dragging himself down the stairs and dropping his weight on a sawhorse beside the work bench.

"Not hungry," Gibbs said with a shake of his head. "Smells good, though."

Mac offered a tired smile. "Your kitchen is sorely lacking in the basic utensils."

"I don't own a garlic press, if that's what you're getting at."

"You do now… kinda," Mac amended with a shrug. "That is, if you don't need that ball peen hammer with the cracked handle or slip joint pliers with the stripped teeth that you had lying around…?"

"The ones in the bucket at the bottom of the stairs?" Gibbs asked. When MacGyver nodded sheepishly, Gibbs chuckled. 'Good. Those were going to get thrown out."

"They have a new lease on life now," Mac admitted. "If you ever plan on cooking with garlic again…Hey, it could happen!" He grinned at the 'yeah, right!' look Gibbs gave him.

"Feeling better?" Gibbs wanted to know. As Mac nodded unconvincingly, Gibbs turned back to the wood in his vice grips and ran a hand over it. "The team did a little digging today."

"Find anything useful?"

"Yup." Gibbs picked up a square of sand paper and whisked it over the surface of the wood, gently blowing the fine dust away to check his progress.

Mac looked like he was again losing his battle against sleep. "Where is Salazar hiding?"

"We found a lot of places he wasn't," Gibbs admitted. "But that's not all that got them curious." He waited until MacGyver had dragged his eyelids open again to stare at him expectantly. "They were curious about you."

"Doesn't surprise me," Mac admitted. "I show up looking like a crazy murderer, and suddenly their boss is acting like I'm his long-lost brother? I'd be curious too!" He waited to see if Gibbs was going to elaborate, finally prompting him when the silence had gone on longer than Mac had patience for. "And they found…?"

"Your Phoenix Foundation employee file."

Mac sat upright, suddenly painfully awake. "They did _what? How?_ I designed that software myself! It would take someone…" Realization brought his eyebrows up. "Someone like McGee to crack it," he finished softly.

Gibbs fixed him with a stare. "I still trust you, Mac. But what is it you're not telling me?"

"If McGee found my file, you already know. Hi, I'd like to introduce myself; I'm the Director of Field Operations for the Phoenix Foundation," Mac grumbled with irritation.

Shaking his head, Gibbs dusted his hands off and reached for another piece of wood. "Why did you think you needed to 'forget to mention' that?"

"Because I don't feel like a Director for the Phoenix Foundation. I never have. Pete was and always will be the Director… I'll never fill those shoes."

"The Foundation's still a powerful organization," Gibbs prodded.

Mac's sigh was sad. "Because I still run things the way Pete would have. For the most part," he amended softly, glancing down at the floor. At Gibbs' questioning glance, he shrugged without looking up. "For instance, I spend a bit more time out in the field than I should at this stage of the game. I shouldn't be here now, except I had to do this for Jack."

"You'd go nuts stuck behind a desk," Gibbs agreed.

"You're right about that. I have an Assistant Director who keeps the lid on the place while I'm out. Sam does a fantastic job, a better one than I ever could, but he's not Pete either."

Gibbs waited a moment to see if MacGyver was going to volunteer more information. When it was obvious he wasn't, Gibbs fixed him with a mild version of a 'Gibbs Glare'. "You want to tell me how you know so much about my team, having just met them?"

Mac looked Gibbs in the eye. "Yes."

A few long, awkward seconds passed. "Well?"

Mac shrugged. "I want to, but I can't."

Gibbs snorted.

"Really. It's a National Security issue. This one is so big it could shut the Phoenix Foundation down completely if it leaked. I'm not letting that happen. Not gonna win this argument, Gunny."

Gibbs couldn't stop the muscle twitch in the middle of his back, where he'd caught the bullet that had prompted MacGyver to come to his rescue all those years ago.

 _Flashback, 1988, Somewhere in the South American Jungle:_

 _*How did you know I was here?* Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs had gasped, barely able to focus on his rescuer._

 _*I'd love to tell you, but I can't; National Security and all that,* MacGyver said with apology. *Hold still now… I've got to get this bullet out.*_

 _Gibbs had tried to hold steady, but MacGyver's quick fingers were not quick enough, and Gibbs had to grit his teeth until they felt like they would crack to keep from crying out._

 _*I hear them… They're heading this way!* MacGyver had hissed._

 _*Take the kids,* Gibbs had managed to get out. *Don't worry about me. Just tell my wife and daughter that I love…"_

 _*Tell 'em yourself!* Mac retorted, hoisting the injured man over his shoulder and sliding through the underbrush. *I'm not letting that happen. Not gonna win this argument, Gunny!*_

MacGyver's quiet voice broke into Gibbs' memories. "You of all people have to understand 'classified'. How many secrets have you had to keep? How many have you _chosen_ to keep?"

Images flashed before Gibbs' eyes… he'd kept the secret of Shannon and Kelly from his team for nearly a decade. He'd been a part of missions that even he didn't fully understand. He'd done things for the so-called 'greater good' that he wasn't particularly proud of, and skirted rules that were just plain 'red tape'. He'd kept information about team members under wraps so they could better do their jobs.

"When you travel as much as I do and meet as many people as I do, you put together a lot of puzzle pieces. Sometimes you run into people, they remind you of someone, and you discover you have mutual acquaintances." He held firm under Gibbs' long, darkening gaze. "I can't tell you who or when I ran into someone we both know… but it was sure good to hear how you were doing. And then, as irony would have it, our paths cross."

The silence stretched on so long the crickets started chirping outside the basement window, and two neighborhood cats could be heard fighting down the street.

"I don't like it any more than you do, Gibbs."

The Senior Field Agent scowled as he again picked up his tools, but for all that MacGyver's silence frustrated him, he knew his old friend was right. There were some secrets that had to be kept. He had a sneaking suspicion, because he'd seen the 'I miss Ziva' look on Tony's face as the younger man had read through Mac's file. He wondered briefly who was more jealous of the time MacGyver had gotten to spend with her; himself or Tony. He was so careful never to let his feelings show, but he had a special place in his gruff old heart for her too. With everything they'd been through…

With a cold, electric tingle dancing across his skin, Gibbs realized that he had been staring at the spot on the basement floor where Ziva had killed her own half-brother to save Gibbs' life… and the tingle grew sharper as he realized Mac was watching him stare at that particular spot of concrete. He flicked his gaze to MacGyver's face, hoping to catch some kind of expression indicating he knew what had happened there, but MacGyver was doing a pretty good impression of a marble statue at the moment.


	15. Chapter 15: Air-Apparent

Tony dropped his phone into its cradle. "They just hit the parking lot!"

McGee leapt from his desk and hurried away. Bishop was also on her feet, scrambling to tidy the bull pen, making sure the binders of MacGyver's mission files were tucked away on a bottom shelf. McGee returned a moment later, carefully putting two steaming cardboard cups on Gibbs' desk before returning to his own. "Ducky only had Darjeeling," he apologized for no apparent reason.

The elevator opened with its customary 'ding'. Gibbs and MacGyver strode into the bull pen, and Gibbs slowed up in consternation as three expectant faces looked up at them.

"Morning, Boss!" the three agents chimed together.

"Morning, MacGyver!" Tony added in the same breath.

"MacGyver, I'm glad you are feeling better!" Bishop overlapped him.

"Good to see you today, MacGyver!" McGee finished over the top of her words.

Gibbs pushed on through his confusion, with Mac trailing so closely behind him that he actually bumped into him when Gibbs halted at the sight of the two cups on his desk, next to a cell phone, a laptop computer, and a plastic bag containing the rest of MacGyver's belongings.

"Tony, you found it!" MacGyver exclaimed, snatching his phone off of Gibbs' desk. "Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to see this!"

"McGee did a 'Ping and Ring' using then number you gave us, and Bishop helped me look," Tony said modestly. As Mac shook his head without understanding, Tony explained. "He pinged your phone to see what general area it was in, then he dialed your number and we listened for the ringtone once we'd arrived on site."

MacGyver looked it over, noting the scratches on its surface. "Where was it?"

"It was about ten feet from where you'd parked your Jeep, under the edge of a pallet leaning against the building," Tony said. "You were sitting in your Jeep when you had Schwimmer under surveillance, right?" At Mac's nod, Tony bobbed his head. "You probably had your phone on your lap, and when Schwimmer got shot, you jumped up to help him. Your phone went flying, and you didn't notice."

"That makes sense," Mac agreed. "Truly, you guys, thank you!" Still holding the phone up to his chest, Mac upended the bag and started filling his pockets with his keys, his loose change, his ID card, and his beloved Swiss Army Knife.

"What's this, now?" Gibbs asked, gesturing to the two coffee cups.

"Oh, we needed a coffee run, and thought you and Mac might like something too," Tony filled in quickly. "High-test and black for you, Boss..."

"...And a Darjeeling for MacGyver," McGee jumped in. "Since you don't prefer coffee."

Gibbs eyed his team warily, noticing the distinct lack of coffee cups on any of their desks or in their trash cans. "Uh-huh…?"

Mac leaned in a little closer as he sensed the tide of 'fanboy' appreciation rising in the enclosed space. "What's goin' on?" he whispered, praying the heat forming near his collar wasn't an embarrassed blush.

Gibbs' eyes tightened under quirked brows as his gaze swept over his three bright-eyed agents. His lips thinned as they all leapt up and fumbled eagerly for their files and the plasma screen remotes. The look he returned to MacGyver clearly indicated that he had no idea, so turned back to his team and barked, "Report!"

"We got access to Andy Schwimmer's phone and computer accounts," McGee started off. "It looks as if he had been receiving threatening messages from Salazar's organization, something about a 'service fee' that had not been collected yet. Schwimmer sent multiple emails, at first indicating that he'd never agreed to the 'service' in question, then as the threats grew more serious, he began begging for more time, saying that he had no way of producing that kind of money."

"Do we know what kind of 'service' Salazar seems to think he provided?" MacGyver asked, reading the emails from the plasma screen. "Like father, like son," he muttered under his breath. "I can practically hear Jack's voice speak those words."

Gibbs turned to him. "We looked into Dalton Airlines," he said with a bit of hesitation.

Mac nodded, looking as if he were bracing himself for the worst. "The best I'm hoping to hear is that while he's not doing anything overtly illegal, there's enough shade in his business deals to grow mushrooms."

Tony jumped up at that, looking pleased with himself. "Actually, what we found is a lot more interesting. Dalton Airlines does operate out of the Caymans, but that's only the umbrella name of his different companies."

Astonishment was apparent in Mac's expressive face. "What? How deep is he in trouble?"

"According to what we've found so far, his companies consist of one international courier service that services primarily the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. and most of the Caribbean Islands. He also owns and operates two small tourist airlines that fly between most of the Caribbean Islands. We looked into each one, especially the courier service."

"That's classic 'Jack' right there," Mac sighed, shaking his head. "Who, and what, is he transporting?"

"It looks like middle-income families who want to island hop on a budget. His flight plans are always up to date, he does a background check on each person, and he invites Customs and security to his hangars."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Jack Dalton?" Mac demanded. "I know my buddy started showing some real promise before we parted company, but that leopard would need a lot of dye to change his spots!"

"Or bleach," Bishop added. "Right around the time of is marriage to Natalie Schwimmer, his entire business went under a major overhaul; cleaning up his accounting practices, upgrading client bases, and instituting training schedules for everyone in his organization. He'd been on a few agencies' radar, but it seems he went legitimate."

"It's a privately held family company; each of the four family members holds stock in it," McGee added. "It's worth quite a bit, and it's all above board."

"Maybe becoming a family man made him see the light," Mac shrugged, hoping it was true but still having trouble believing it. "When this is all over, I'll have to get back in touch with him." A thought made him pause. "You said 'four family members'? Do Jack and Natalie have another kid?""

"It doesn't look like it," McGee shrugged. "According to the business structure, Andy is the Vice President and legal heir of the company."

"The 'Air-Apparent'?" Mac offered innocently. He sighed heavily as Gibbs was the only one who rolled his eyes.

McGee was too involved in his research to catch the joke. "I haven't found any further information on the additional family member. Dalton and Schwimmer are making plans to come to DC to be with their son," he offered instead. "They should arrive later today. We can ask them then."

Mac's left eye started an unbidden twitch. "Greeeaaaatttt…" he drawled. When everyone looked at him with mild surprise and curiosity, he blew out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I shoulda figured they'd come running to be with Andy, and frankly, I think that's the best for everyone. I'd just 'back-burnered' that thought. I didn't realize that Jack and I would be in the same neighborhood again."

"A lot can change in fifteen years," Gibbs reminded him.

Mac shrugged, then turned back to the screen. "So, if Jack's above board, what did Andy get wrapped up in?"

"His financials show an influx of money about six months ago. I'm still trying to trace its source. The evidence indicates Andy Schwimmer was actively employed by the courier company at the time, and he took a job that wasn't run through scheduling."

"A run on the side that Daddy didn't know about? That doesn't sound good."

"That trip never happened. We got a call this morning from the Hospital, Boss, saying that Schwimmer had woken up."

"Tony, you and Bishop…" Gibbs began.

"Already went there, Boss!" Tony exclaimed with pride. "We interviewed him and got his statement." As Gibbs stared at him, Tony gestured to their guest. "We figured we'd take care of it, since you and MacGyver hadn't come in yet." He shared a grin with Bishop and McGee as Gibbs had to give them a nod of approval. "Schwimmer had been told the product to be transferred was textiles... Tee shirts, beach bags, and stuff like that for the tourists, shipped this way to avoid paying import taxes. It seems that Andy found out exactly who he was dealing with and shut that trip down. The drugs never left the ground. An 'anonymous' tip to the police resulted in a raid of the facilities, but apparently Salazar was expecting something like that, and he'd already cleaned out his warehouse there,"

"Moving the product was expensive, and it wasn't delivered on time, so Salazar lost a lot of money. That's what he was trying to get out of Schwimmer," McGee reported, putting more of the emails on the plasma screen.

Mac gazed heavenward and enacted a sigh. "Yeah, that nut didn't fall far from that tree. Only someone related to Jack could get into so much trouble by trying 'to do the right thing'."

"Let's find the guy that shot him!" Gibbs ordered, gesturing for his team to get to work.


	16. Chapter 16: New Perspectives

_Note: I'd like to take a quick moment and thank my reviewers, specifically Bay3 (my dear friend!), J0 (you were my first reviewer, and gave me the coolest idea for the 3rd installment of the Unforgettable Friends series, thank you, thank you!), DS2010 (you're so much fun!), and my biggest fan, SkyJester, whose private messages include such amazing encouragement! I love you too, Dad!_

* * *

MacGyver ducked away from the group, his cell phone in hand. Once he was out of earshot, he dialed a number, input a pin, then followed it with a long passcode. He could feel his blood pressure going down as the line connected before the second ring.

"Dad!" the voice on the other end of the phone exclaimed. "You had me so worried! Especially when the Navy Cops called to ask about you...in reference to an attempted murder?"

Mac couldn't help flinching. "Sorry about that, _Sam!"_ Dangerous missions were nothing new to either of them, and this wasn't the first of this kind of conversation they'd ever had, but Mac hated hearing the concern in his son's voice. "I tried to call earlier, but they have their protocols to follow too, and I have to respect that."

His son, the Assistant Director of Field Ops, blew out a breath. "I guess…But I'm sure glad to hear you're okay! What's going on?"

MacGyver spent a few minutes outlining his surveillance, the shooting, and the investigation so far.

"Jack Dalton got married?" Sam demanded. "Wow…"

"And get ready for this; remember one of my stories about going into the South American jungle to rescue a missing soldier?"

"You'll have to narrow that down a bit," Sam responded dryly. "I can think of at least a dozen!"

"Twenty seven years ago, six orphan kids helped me rescue a Marine Gunnery Sergeant named Gibbs?"

"Yeah…?"

"Guess who the NCIS Senior Field Agent is?"

Sam snorted. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Mac shook his head. "This is a regular _'Family Reunion, in point of fact'_ ," he said, emphasizing the code-phrase to alert his Assistant Director that more private information was in the wind than either would prefer.

Keyboard clacking could be heard over the phone. "Oh, boy… 'Rule Number Nine'? _That_ Gibbs from NCIS?" At Mac's confirming grunt, Sam blew out his breath. "Yeah, I don't envy you the workout you're going to get tap-dancing around that! They've had two days with the laptop. Is it possible they…?"

"Maybe," Mac interrupted. "We've already _shared our life stories_ , and _gotten to know each other_ really well."

Sam was quiet for another moment as more clacking of computer keys could be heard in the background. "Yeah, I show a breach in our firewall; they got your entire personnel record. The synopses aren't encrypted, but the mission details are. Do you think we have a situation?"

Mac leaned against the wall. "Yeah, maybe." As he spoke, a strange prickling feeling started on the back of his neck, and he realized that DiNozzo had followed him to his secluded corner and was trying to listen in to the conversation. "But _he's right here_ , and that file is protected. I'll need the access code. I want to give them…everything they need."

Sam translated the tone in his father's voice. "And nothing that they don't; I read you! Okay, Laptop Access, Partition only. Ready?" When Mac confirmed, he rattled off a long string of letters and numbers.

"Thanks, Sam," Mac said, after repeating the code back. From behind him, Mac could hear the intensity of Tony's observation, and he knew he had to cut his call short. "I'll call you later, Sam. We've got a case to solve."

"I'm really glad you're okay, Dad. May your roll of duct tape always have enough on it…" Sam replied, using their traditional parting phrase.

"…and your solutions be more plentiful than your challenges," Mac finished it up with a fond smile. He hung up, stuffed the phone back in his pocket, then turned and pretended to be surprised to see Tony standing there. "Oh, hi!"

DiNozzo was smiling, but there was something deeper than curiosity behind it. " '…and your solutions be more plentiful than your challenges'?" he repeated.

MacGyver gave him a sheepish grin. "When your son is your Assistant Director, you can't go around finishing calls to the office with, 'I love you, kid!' So, we developed our own code. It means the same thing, but it doesn't raise eyebrows."

A stab of jealousy went through Tony like lightning. "Gotcha," he said a little more quickly than he intended. "Gibbs wants any information you have on Schwimmer's whereabouts since his Leave started."

"I just got the access code to unlock the laptop's encryption," Mac said, taking off in the direction of the bull pen. "I just have to key this in, and you'll have what you need."

McGee was waiting for him, standing over the laptop with an eagerness that resembled a kid awaiting permission to unwrap a gift. Once Mac had input the code, McGee didn't waste any time downloading information.

Since he'd been relieved of his laptop, MacGyver realized he had little to do, so he hung around the perimeter of the bull pen to watch the team at work. They were an efficient bunch, he'd been told, and they were certainly proving that today. He idly poked around, unable to contain his curiosity and boredom with nothing to do. He paused for a moment as he noticed Tony's chin jerk up when his fingers touched an unassuming white binder, so he moved past it, intrigued when Tony went back to work with an unconscious sigh of relief. Mac could feel Tony's eyes on him until he'd walked away from the bookcase entirely and ended up behind Gibbs' desk.

Watching Gibbs stare at his computer for a few moments bored Mac worse than wandering around, so he resumed his idle pacing. Tony's eyes were once again on him as he neared the bookcase in question, so Mac chose a different binder to tug free, watching Tony's concern level drop. The binder contained the printouts of his earliest Phoenix ops. He hadn't gone back to read them in a few years, so he glanced through the pages.

He couldn't help smile as he read. He'd been younger and carefree back then, surrounded by and constantly meeting so many good people. Some were still around, sliding into their sunset years with great stories to tell the grandkids, but many had been lost over the years. Turning a page, he could feel his throat tighten and the backs of his eyes prickle.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Oh, God, Pete; I miss you! You were such a good friend!_

Mac had to put the binder back before the decade-old ache filled him. Keeping a close eye on Tony, he waited until the younger man was again absorbed in his work before silently swapping binders for the one that worried Tony in the first place.

There were crumpled pages near the back that indicated a lot of attention paid to that mission, so Mac slid his finger under it and started reading.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: It's funny. When you meet someone with whom you share a mutual acquaintance, you can get a new perspective on a person you thought you already knew. Twenty seven years ago, I had dug a much younger Gibbs out of that jungle. That active Marine was a solid guy, one a person would be honored to know; trustworthy, stubborn as anything, madly in love with his wife and daughter, yet all gung-ho about serving his country. We worked together a few times, and then I heard that tragedy had struck him. When I saw him again, at their funeral, I worried for him. We did a few more brief missions together after he recovered from his injuries, and I knew he was still a good guy; trustworthy, stubborn as anything, hurting and broken, yet strong enough to pull his life back together. We lost touch with each other after that, but he's firmly on my list of people I'm glad I'd worked with._

 _When that mysterious Israeli walked into my office at the Foundation two years ago, watched me open an envelope with the Swiss Army knife in my pocket, and spoke the words, 'Rule Number Nine; Always Carry a Knife!' I was floored. There was only one man in the world who'd ever said that. I'd played it cool, asking her where she'd come up with those rules. It took some doing, because she struck me as the secretive type, but I finally got out of her that she'd worked for Gibbs for a couple of years. That led to some interesting conversations over the next few weeks, as we shared intel and learned to trust each other. I got caught up with Gibbs' life, and was glad to learn that he was still a good guy; trustworthy, stubborn as anything, with deeper hurt and larger cracks, yet all the stronger for everything he'd pulled his life together around. I'd known Gibbs at so many stages in his life, and here I was hearing about him in a new and different kind of paternal role._

 _And then there was the rest of the team;_ I'd heard an earful about Tony...and theirs was a strange and wonderful relationship to be sure, and I said my piece about it, but that's a whole different can of worms. I knew she still loved him desperately, but I wasn't stupid enough to say anything more on that subject. _I'd learned about McGee's gentleness and computer savvy, Palmer's devotion, Ducky's serene wisdom...and I was delighted to hear that she also knew my quirky genius friend Abby! I felt like I'd gotten to know the team through her words… And then I go and meet them in a strange twist of coincidence. I was looking at these people that I'd 'met' through the lens of her perspective, and was now forming my own opinions of them. I could see why she loved them so much. I didn't press her for her reasons for leaving them, because I could see the storm clouds brewing in her eyes when that subject came up, but I could tell she had to have her reasons._

 _Now, here I was with her old team, feeling like I knew them, yet to protect National Security, I couldn't tell them that I knew them. I couldn't tell them how much Ziva missed them._

 _Sometimes, life just wasn't fair._

Mac turned the page in the binder, the abused paper crackling as it slid over the rings. The sound brought Tony's eyes up again. Mac had arranged the other binders on the shelf to look like he was still reading the first one he'd chosen, but there must have been something on his face that had given him away.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Pete always told me I'd make a lousy poker player…_

"Hey, Gibbs?" Mac asked, trying to look nonchalant as he slid the binder back onto the shelf. "I have a question for Ducky. Would it be okay for me to head down and ask him? I feel like I'm in the way up here."

Gibbs glanced up, the distraction in his eyes clearing to curiosity when he picked up on the waves of tension ebbing from DiNozzo's desk. "Yeah, sure. Know the way?"

Mac nodded, pushing himself away from the shelves and sauntering towards the elevator. He could sense Gibbs watching Tony as Tony watched MacGyver until he was out of sight.


	17. Chapter 17: Why?

Skirting the elevator in favor of a bit of physical activity, Mac hit the stairwell and started down. Pausing on the landing between floors, MacGyver leaned against the wall. "You'd better be careful, Mac. She said she'd trust them with her life, but you could get everyone in a world of hurt if you say the wrong thing," he told himself in an angry whisper. Feeling properly chastised, he continued on towards Autopsy.

If there was one thing Mac hated worse than heights, it was morgues. He wondered why that hadn't come to mind when he'd hatched the plan to come down here in the first place. He hesitated outside of the gleaming silver doors, pushing away nightmares before they tried to surface. He'd seen way too many of his good friends for the last time in a place like this. A quick glance through the glass window showed that the Doctor was in, but he didn't have any 'patients' on the tables.

Ducky noticed the shadow playing through the window and came to investigate. "Ah, good afternoon, MacGyver!" he greeted in his cheerful brogue. "I must beg a favor of you; I appreciate the invitation to call you 'Mac'; however, 'MacGyver' is so much easier for me to say."

MacGyver had put his 'game face' on, but found himself able to offer the Scotsman a genuine smile. "The way you say it, Ducky, I agree! I took my son to Scotland on one of our trips, just to hear my name spoken the way it was meant to be."

Ducky's smile was broad, with a hint of friendly teasing. "I'll bet it was a little easier hearing your _full name_ spoken there; forgive me, Lad, but I was curious and looked it up," he admitted when Mac winced.

"A little easier, maybe," Mac allowed. "How my mother came up with that one…?"

Ducky shrugged. "In the original Scottish, 'Angus' means 'Superior Strength', or "First Choice'. It makes sense to me."

"That makes one of us, then," Mac said with a disarming smile. "Let's just say that it was a hard name to survive public school with. Hence, 'call me Mac'…"

Ducky patted him on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "I can imagine." Turning back to the door, Ducky gestured for MacGyver to follow. "Please, come in and share a cup of tea with me. Rumor has it that you like Darjeeling?"

Mac didn't quite know how to respond to that; he'd enjoyed the steaming cup that was offered to him back in the bull pen, but the reverence with which it had presented to him still confused him. "I… uh… Sure?"

"Young Timothy begged some from me this morning. Knowing he prefers coffee, I was curious, yet happy to oblige. I overheard later that it had been prepared for you. I have replenished my tea supply over lunch, if you would prefer another flavor?"

"Whatever you're pouring is fine with me," Mac replied. "If I may ask, what else did you hear about this morning?" He watched the other man putter with the tea kettle, warming the water as he spooned the tea into the diffuser.

Ducky's eyes twinkled. "I overheard a great deal of appreciation for the skills and experience of our new guest. Visitors who have the wherewithal too keep up with the team are somewhat rare."

"That explains a lot, actually," Mac nodded to himself. "Thanks, Ducky." He accepted the Scotsman's nod and the china cup of fragrant brew.

"How are you feeling, MacGyver?" Ducky queried as they sipped. "After three days without sleep, I find it hard to believe you're up and around already."

Mac chuckled. "I've always been able to bounce back from things faster than expected. I guess it's a combination of a high pain tolerance and boredom." He grinned at Ducky's exaggerated nod that encouraged him to keep believing that if it made him happy. "I've got another question for you; Rumor has it that you have a background in psychology… You mind if I pick your brain a bit?"

"I'd be delighted," Ducky said, pulling out a set of chairs. "I am between tasks at the moment, and would enjoy spending the time in pleasant conversation." Once they were settled and had sipped their tea, Ducky leaned forward. "What troubles you?"

"Me? Oh, ah… That's not exactly where I was going with this…" Mac stammered, caught off guard by how Ducky had cut right to the point.

Kind eyes smiled at him from over the rim of the tea cup. "If I may, you strike me as someone who has a lot on his mind."

"You could say that twice and not be accused of overstatement," Mac agreed, puffing an overwhelmed breath out.

"I am familiar with the Phoenix Foundation's many facets. That is a complex organization. You are a Director there?"

"Director of Field Operations; yes."

"And I get the feeling that you hold this job out of a sense of commitment?"

Mac squirmed as a nerve was touched. "I feel like we're missing the leather couch here," he said, trying to cover his sudden discomfort.

Ducky changed the subject smoothly. "I just received a call from the hospital. Young Andy Schwimmer has been moved from the ICU to a private room. They are quite pleased with his recovery."

"That is good to hear," Mac agreed gratefully. "His parents are on their way…"

Ducky's eyebrows rose as he heard something in MacGyver's tone. "His adopted father is a friend of yours."

"That's kinda what I wanted to… Yeah, he is, sorry." Mac stopped, took a deep breath, and let it out. "I haven't seen Jack in fifteen years." He waited to see if Ducky was going to ask any questions, but the Scotsman was willing to wait him out. "When Jack and I spent any kind of time together, we usually ended up over our heads in trouble. I got pretty good at getting us out of it, but there were times I needed a little help. My best friend, Pete, was the Director of Field Ops at the Phoenix."

"You inherited his job," Ducky nodded, getting a feel for where the conversation was heading.

"Yeah," Mac said, unable to hide the sadness in his voice. "But when I needed bailing out, Pete was always right there. He knew I couldn't say no to Jack."

Ducky nodded, the last of the pieces falling into place. "You're concerned that since you now are in Pete's position, you don't have that resource to draw upon for backup. If Jack attempts to lead you astray, it will have to be you alone that provides the resources."

"I haven't heard from Jack in years. I get a phone call from him begging for me to watch out for this kid, and now look at me. I dive right back in, rushing in where angels fear to tread."

"You enjoy helping people. I can sense that about you. You look for the best in people with unfailing faith that you will find it, no matter how hard it is to see."

"You're making this weakness of mine sound virtuous instead of naive," Mac said with an attempt at a smile.

Ducky grew serious. "I don't view that as a weakness at all, MacGyver! Certainly, caution must be employed when dealing with those who stubbornly refuses to live up to the faith we attempt to place in them, but placing that faith in the first place requires great strength of character."

Mac chewed on that thought for a while, realizing that had dredged up a question about something that had happened many years ago, something he'd never been able to figure out. "I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation, and I want your honest opinion. Say there is this guy who has this 'silver lining outlook' about his fellow man. He's asked to help rescue an innocent who has been put in danger. Normally not a big deal, right? However, the person asking our 'silver lining outlook' character just happens to be his mortal enemy; a crazy assassin who would stop at nothing to kill him."

"We're not talking about Jack here, are we?" Ducky asked with growing concern.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Mac said, his words speeding up as he warmed to his subject. Although his mortal enemy, Murdoc, had been dead for a long time… _wasn't he?_ … Mac could still feel his adrenaline kick in as his heart started to pound. "No, we're talking about a different guy… hypothetically, remember… a genuine assassin working for an underground organization of hitmen, who haunted our hypothetical optimist's nightmares for over a decade, trying time after time to blow him up. The hypothetical maniac suddenly appears in our optimist's life and begs him for help in rescuing someone else; let's say, an innocent bystander used as leverage against the maniac. The optimist wants nothing to do with his nemesis, but he can't stop himself from helping him rescue the innocent. Does that make the optimist… crazy?"

Ducky blinked a few times as he tried to make sense of the tangled example. "Is our optimist crazy for his desire to lend his skills to rescue someone in need of help?"

Mac was about to protest, but he realized Ducky was breaking the scenario down into smaller chunks. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so crazy."

"Obviously, our optimist made the best of a…bizarre… situation. I assume the innocent was rescued?" Registering MacGyver's affirmative nod, Ducky kept going. "I also assume our optimist did not expect the maniac to see the light, change his ways, and start serving meals at soup kitchens?"

"The deal we had was that he'd turn himself in to the police, and give me everything he had on his cronies so we could shut that organization down too."

Ducky hid his smile as the 'hypothetical' pretense was abandoned. "And did you honestly expect him to go through with that?"

Mac had to shake his head. "I'd hoped, but no; I knew he wasn't going to hold up that end of the bargain. He gave me enough to take down his former associates, but I think that was more to clear the way for his next moves than anything else."

Ducky watched him closely for a few moments. "One does hope that the maniac was finally brought to justice…"

That was one rabbit hole MacGyver didn't want to get lost down again. There was no way Murdoc could have survived their last skirmish, but once again, there'd been no body. There'd also been a two decade silence afterward, which was not Murdoc's style at all. "Let's go with 'Yes'," he hedged.

Ducky seemed to agree that conversation wasn't worth continuing. "If it had been Jack that had asked you for help, would you have hesitated?"

"No," Mac admitted. "But while Jack consistently got me in big trouble, it wasn't his published goal to bring me to a sticky end. As it is, I took a long vacation from the Foundation to chase after that kid of his the moment he'd asked."

"And you saved his life," Ducky reminded him. "Now, you're wondering if, after fifteen years, Jack still has the same kind of power over you."

Mac startled. "In a nutshell, yes!"

Ducky lifted his teacup and savored a sip, allowing MacGyver a long moment to think. When the Medical Examiner began to get the impression that the exhausted man's thoughts were still tangled, he lowered his cup to catch his attention. "Is it Jack… or our 'hypothetical' maniac… that _made_ you jump to the rescue of those who were unable to help themselves?" He waited until Mac's head started shaking. "Did having the possibility of Pete 'bailing you out' provide the freedom to think outside of convention, to be able to go that extra mile in protecting innocent life?"

Goosebumps rose high on Mac's arms. "I found a list in Pete's desk, after he…"

"After he passed the baton?" Ducky supplied.

Blinking hard, Mac nodded his thanks for the save. "It was one of those 8-1/2x14 yellow legal pads. Every page, front and back, had three columns of names, written in Pete's handwriting. I recognized every single name on that list." A shaky inhale turned into a watery smile. "The list was labeled, 'Impossible Saves'."

"I'm guessing that because of your assistance, every name on that list had a story to share with their grandchildren?"

Mac leaned back in his chair, consciously channeling his overwhelming emotion into a smile that lit up the room. "We did good work."

Ducky raised an eyebrow. "You still do."

Watching that realization hit home, Ducky smiled to himself. Giving the other man the time he needed to process, the doctor stood and went to the tea pot. Mac was still staring at the far wall as the wheels spun in his mind. Ducky refilled the pot and put it back in the heating element. Sensing that Mac was nearing the conclusion of his thought process, Ducky took advantage of his distraction. "If I may; that wasn't the only question you wanted to ask, is it?"

Mac blinked, tugging his thoughts back to the present. He gave the doctor a searching gaze, then nodded to himself. "Yeah, I heard you were good."

Ducky checked the temperature of the water, wondering at the meaning of that last statement and curious to see if he could draw MacGyver into answering it. "So, my friend; What's really on your mind?"

Mac's gaze shuttered a bit as he raised his guard. For the briefest of moments, he seemed angry, and Ducky sensed that he was angry at himself.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: You know, this isn't the first time in the last few days that I've made a bone-headed mistake. First was probably answering the phone the day that Jack called and asked for help. Then, dropping everything and racing to DC to find this kid without getting more information from Jack wasn't the brightest move… although from what I knew of Jack, I'd get quite a story and I couldn't see his left eye twitching over the phone to know which parts were an outright lie. Then in my exhaustion, I made some comments that let slip that I knew these people. And now I come down to talk to a psychologist / medical examiner whom I've been told can practically read minds… I'm either losing mine, or I need his professional head-shrinking services more than I thought!_

Ducky's voice cut into his self recrimination. "I feel the Darjeeling was a big heavy. I think a lighter flavor, apricot, perhaps, would satisfy."

There was a moment of quiet while both the tea and MacGyver brewed, and then Ducky returned to the table. "Having just become acquainted, I do not expect a full disclosure of your life, my friend," Ducky said with gentle teasing in his voice. "You were the one who requested to 'pick my brain', as the saying goes, so I leave the topic of conversation entirely up to you." He waited a moment, watching the tension drain out of MacGyver's shoulders. "However, I do count us as friends, MacGyver, and I sense that something is deeply troubling you. If you wish to share it, I would be honored to offer what assistance I can."

Mac stared at his tea cup, watching the ripples as he rubbed a finger around the handle. "The thing is…" he started, then hesitated and fell silent.

"You cannot ask the question that is burning inside you right now," Ducky discerned. As Mac made no response, other than the unconscious rippling of his jaw muscle, Ducky raised his eyebrows and nodded. "I see. That does present a challenge." He waited a moment, then softly added, "I should have mentioned at the outset of our conversation that anything discussed here is covered by 'Doctor-Patient Confidentiality'."

It didn't seem as though Mac had heard that. "I guess, to boil it down to the basics, what I want to ask is…" He paused, wracking his brain to boil it down to something that wouldn't get him in trouble. Losing the battle, and afraid he was going to blurt everything out, he spread his hands and asked, "Why?"

There was silence for the space of several moments. "I believe that is the question to end all questions."

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Why can't I ask the question I really need to; why does National Security, which is supposed to protect people, actually harm them right now? Why do people create such hurtful problems that others have to clean up? Why am I, as usual, caught in the middle?_

Mac cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and launched in. "Why can't I say, 'no' when I'm asked for help? Why am I the 'go-to' person for people who get themselves into trouble? Why do I collect 'friends' who demand so much of me?"

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Okay, I wasn't expecting to say all of that…but I have to admit, those questions have been rattling around in my brain for over thirty years._

Ducky's expression was thoughtful as he tilted his head to the side and stared into the middle distance. "Because…you _can_ , MacGyver!" He leaned forward, catching MacGyver's gaze and holding it. "You possess an unusual skill set, with an uncanny ability to think outside of convention. You see a big picture and an end result that very few others can fathom. You also have the deepest sense of understanding for the fabric of human existence that I have ever seen." He paused as he realized MacGyver needed clarification on that point. "You care so deeply for your fellow man. You recognize that life is sacred. You abhor violence; ergo, you go further to find solutions that protect life. Your 'inability to say no' is a direct reflection of your moral integrity."

MacGyver's warm brown eyes were wide over his slack-jawed surprise. "Ducky, I…"

Ducky smiled and put a friendly hand on Mac's shoulder. "You are a good man, MacGyver. It is a pleasure to know you."

MacGyver's cellphone rang at that moment, forestalling any further conversation from Mac's side. He tugged his phone free and pressed 'talk' with numb fingers. "Uh… yeah?" he invited, still staring at Ducky with awe.

"Mac? Gibbs. Get up here. Got something!" And the line went dead.

Mac waved the phone. "Ducky, I gotta… um…" He gathered himself and focused on the man before him. "Ducky, Thank you. What you've said…"

"You'd best get up there; Gibbs does not like to be kept waiting," Ducky said, waving him towards the door. As Mac backed away, Ducky raised a hand and brought him to a momentary halt. "One thing, MacGyver," he began, his tone warning. "Don't lie to Gibbs."

"I wouldn't…"

Ducky shook his head. "I meant when I said you are a good man. Whatever you're holding back from him, you'd better have a very good reason. I hope you understand that."

Mac met his gaze, and the temperature in the room dropped. "I do."

Startled at the intensity in the other man's eyes, Ducky had to ask, "You have a reason, or you understand?"

"Yes." With that, MacGyver walked through the doors.

* * *

 _Murdoc was played by Michael Des Barres, who was actually in an episode of NCIS (2012) playing a_ _character called Del Finney. The scene where Ducky was the one interrogating him was beyond brilliant!_


	18. Chapter 18: Ticket to MacGyver-Land

MacGyver rounded the corner into the bullpen. "What have we got?" he demanded, coming to a halt behind Gibbs' desk and leaning over the agent's shoulder.

Tony shot a glance at McGee. "Does this seem really familiar to you somehow?" he asked in a low whisper. "Gibbs normally hangs over your shoulder like that."

"Think we found where Salazar rabbited to. BOLO came back on his vehicle, putting him on a highway by the foothills of the mountains, right here," Gibbs said, pointing to a map on one of his computer screens.

Tony piped up as Mac's brows lowered in confusion. "DEA seems to think he has a hideout in there somewhere."

Mac looked around, spotting his laptop on the corner of McGee's desk. He crossed the bullpen to snag it, balanced it on Gibbs' desk, and logged in. He looked up as McGee and Tony stepped over to watch, and explained, "The Phoenix Foundation is working with a few Audubon Societies in Virginia to increase the population of the endangered Loggerhead Shrike that migrate to this area. We've got satellite maps of the areas here that are… Ah, ha! Look at that," MacGyver interrupted, pointing to the screen. He glanced back at the image on Gibbs' monitor, and grinned. "Looks like our guy's car was found down here, and the images indicate there's a few buildings scattered over there; although there are no access roads and very few clearings leading to them. If we go in from this direction," he said, pointing to another part of the forest, "the woods are thicker, but the hills less steep. We can probably cut him off, if we get started right away."

"You can get us there?" Gibbs asked, frowning at the maps.

"Easily. Really, there're only two ways in…"

"I am not rappelling in from a helicopter," Gibbs informed his old friend.

Mac appeared only mildly disappointed. "Then there's really only one way in," he amended. "How quickly can we get…" He read the map, then pointed to a spot on the computer screen. "…there?"

"The way Gibbs drives?" McGee muttered under his breath. In a louder tone, he offered, "About an hour, by these roads. Are we gearing up, Boss?"

Gibbs ignored him. "Small team?" he asked his old friend.

"No more than three," Mac confirmed.

Gibbs stood and started gathering his equipment from his desk drawers. The others watched him, waiting for directions. "Bishop. Go home. Pack. You're with us."

"Into the… the deep woods?" she repeated.

His eyes alight with the impending adventure, MacGyver missed the growing terror on her face. "That's where our suspect is," he nodded.

"Why me?" Bishop demanded.

Gibbs' expression darkened. "Because I told you to."

"Time to earn her 'Deep Woods Adventurer' Patch?" Mac asked the team leader, and he smiled when Gibbs nodded. "Gotcha! A first-class ticket to MacGyver-Land for Field Agent Certification!"

Another nod confirmed it, then the Boss returned his attention to Bishop, handing over a piece of paper. "Go home. Pack."

"What are we going to do, Boss?" McGee asked, and it was obvious he was trying to hide how left-out he felt.

MacGyver took it upon himself to answer. "You both are two of the best investigators I've had the privilege of working with," he started, and swallowed back his smile as both guys unconsciously puffed their chests. "I need you to coordinate with local LEOs and the Phoenix Foundation. Stay on the paper trail; figure out where his distribution sites are, business associates, buyers, all that good stuff. Who is hiring him to do what? We need those answers, and you're the best bet we have in getting them."

Bishop took the paper from Gibbs' hand with nerveless fingers and read it. "This is what I'm supposed to pack? I don't even own a sleeping bag… Toilet paper? Are you serious?"

"Aww, c'mon, Gibbs…Really?" Mac chimed in, earning a grateful look from Bishop. "You're getting soft in your old age! I thought you were going to give her the full experience!"

Bishop's expression of horrified betrayal almost made DiNozzo and McGee laugh aloud. "If we don't bring our own toilet paper…?"

"We use leaves," Mac informed her gently, taking pity on her genuine distress. "Which brings me back to my question, Oh Great White Hunter… Why toilet paper, if you're going to teach her how to survive in the woods?"

"Last time, somebody didn't know what poison ivy looked like. Didn't go so well."

Bishop let out a wail and buried her head in her hands. "I am going to die!"


	19. Chapter 19:Thoreau-ing Up

The scenery was beautiful; verdant green pine trees, emerald oaks and maples, thick mossy trunks, and glittering rocks. The air was fresh, pure, and just on the comfortable side of brisk. Birds chirped from the trees or swooped through the air around them, and little furry forest creatures darted through the underbrush. The sun painted golden streaks through the trees as the azure sky glowed above.

Mac took in a deep breath, marveling once again at how at home he felt in the woods. He'd grown up in a small town in Minnesota, playing in the woods as a boy from sun up to sun down. The forest was a part of him, it completed him, and it was home.

Gibbs looked comfortable too as he adjusted his pack across his shoulders and slid soundlessly over the uneven terrain. Some of the inherent stress had melted from his features, and something approaching a smile rested on his lips.

Ellie Bishop, however, was not the happiest camper. As MacGyver turned to check on her, he noticed she was staggering under the weight of her backpack, tripping over the loose straps, tangling her feet in her oversized boots, and bouncing comically off of every tree and rock in her path. Her slight body was bent double, and her attractive features were dark with a furious scowl.

"How're ya doin', Ellie?" Mac asked.

She grunted as she staggered to a stop and caught her balance. "For the record…" she panted, "…I hate you both… A lot…"

Gibbs chuckled. "Ah, Bishop, you don't spend enough time outdoors."

Mac gestured for her to ignore him. "Look around, Ellie… Can you feel the Nature around you? This is our Home, the only planet we have. It's where life started, it makes us who we are…"

"Don't make me 'Thoreau' up," she challenged him with a hard stare, her expression not changing in the least as he laughed in response to her jibe. "I can feel Nature crawling down my collar and biting me!"

"Give it a few days… You'll get used to this," Gibbs suggested helpfully.

Trying not to grin as Bishop spluttered, MacGyver took another deep breath. "If we do have to go hunting our suspect in a forest, I'm glad he picked such a pretty one to hide out in."

"Pretty?" Bishop demanded, shifting her backpack into a more comfortable position.

A breeze ruffled the pine-scented air around them, and birds sang out to celebrate. "Yeah. It makes one feel a part of something bigger," Mac started, but he broke off as something glinting in the underbrush caught his attention. His peaceful and uplifted expression crumpled as he realized they were standing in the remnants of someone else's campfire, and the underbrush was littered with all kinds of trash. "I wish everyone felt that way," he mourned in a soft tone. He knelt and gathered as many items as he could reach.

"We've got suspects to trail, Mac," Gibbs reminded him. "We don't have time to play Litter Patrol."

Mac tucked the shard of broken glass, the 9-volt battery, and the crumpled soda can into the outside pocket of his backpack. "Cut me a bit of slack, Gibbs… You know how I feel about this kind of thing."

"Tree hugging can wait until after we've caught our suspect."

Irritation flickered darkly behind MacGyver's eyes, but he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Three extra seconds isn't going to make or break our case, and this happens to be the only planet we have; every little bit helps. Besides… you never know when this stuff will come in handy!"

Bishop was feeling just tired and cranky enough to take Gibbs' side. "You're going to weigh yourself down with that garbage. Besides, in the face of all the litter in the world, what's three pieces?"

Although his tone was laconic and his words spoken with a smile, there was a painful seriousness behind his jest of, "I'm not asking you to carry anything, am I?" Throwing his bag back over his shoulders, Mac strode off through the trees. "C'mon, slowpokes…"

Bishop could feel that she'd missed something, and a quick glance at Gibbs showed that the Boss was staring after his old buddy with concern and confusion. "What's with him?" she wanted to know.

A shrug that clearly said, "none of your business," was her only answer as Gibbs struck off, leaving her standing alone in the clearing.


	20. Chapter 20: Old School Tracking

Hours, and miles, of thick forest later, Bishop had bypassed 'tired', moved right on through 'hurting', and had hit the wall of 'numb'. She had tried to follow the example of the two woodsmen with her and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, but all she could see were the spiderwebs that clung to her, the mud squelching up into her hiking boots and pant legs, and the growing tension in her Boss' shoulders as she lagged farther and father behind. Putting her head down, she had concentrated only on the endless trudging. Her focus was so complete that when Mac drew up sharply and held up a hand for silence, she actually plowed right into him and nearly knocked him over.

"Awww, c'mon, Bishop!" Gibbs growled under his breath as he grabbed her backpack to keep her from making further noise.

She sank gratefully to the ground, ignoring her Boss and instead watching Mac, who was prowling around the area like a bloodhound.

Mac hunkered down next to where Bishop had collapsed. He gestured for Gibbs to join them, and when all three were covered by the low-growing foliage, Mac shared his discovery in a low whisper. "We're on a game trail, heading towards a clearing." He paused to look up at the dark canopy of leaves above them, then pointed to an area ahead of them that glowed just a little brighter. "I'm hoping there's a water-source up ahead; would be a perfect place for our suspect to rest for a while." He gestured back down to the trail they'd been following. "I'm guessing that's what happened, because something spooked the animals here recently; a few of them doubled back, and some left the trail to hide in the trees." He tugged a paper map from his pocket and consulted a GPS reader. "The trees are too thick here for the satellite that took these images to get a good view of the ground; I'll have to send one the Phoenix birds over here to get topographical scans."

"Why?" Gibbs wanted to know, recognizing the signs of MacGyver's mind spinning into his next project.

Mac pulled his cell phone from his pocket and clipped a signal booster into the power port. A sideways glance at Gibbs' expression of surprise made the corners of his eyes crinkle. "I helped develop the software for our satellite scanning projects. I wrote it specifically for the purpose of mapping areas under the greatest threat of ecological destruction; you can't protect what you don't know is there." His long fingers danced over the phone's screen. "But, the program has other applications as well."

Bishop looked up from untying the laces on her right boot. "What other applications?"

When Mac's gaze moved to her, his brows lowered in disapproval. "Don't take your boots off," he warned, his whisper severe enough to freeze her in mid-motion. "Your feet will swell up, and you'll never get them back on. I know you hurt, Ellie, but trust me here."

Her cheeks burning in embarrassment and irritation, Ellie retied her laces. "What other applications?" she asked again, folding her arms to prove she was following directions.

"That program is tagged specifically to look for the locators we're trialling right now. A lot of people that had the potential of getting irretrievably lost while on dangerous missions will have a much better chance of making it home now."

"The chip you put on Schwimmer?" Gibbs clarified.

Mac nodded as he returned his attention to his phone. "Yeah… the biggest trick was making it invisible to ground-based scanners; the chip won't do anyone any good if the bad guys can find it too. We think we've worked out the last of the bugs." He scowled briefly as he unclipped the signal booster from his phone and stuffed everything back into his pocket. "Next up on the Phoenix's 'To-Do List' is to create a cell phone battery that lasts more than six hours at full usage." His lips curved back into a roguish smile. "The satellite will take over two hours to reposition, and we don't have that kind of time. We'll have to rely on our training and common sense for this next bit, Gibbs," he whispered in delight. "Time to go 'old-school'."

Gibbs shared his grin, then unclipped his backpack to let it rest on the ground next to a very confused Bishop. A few hand signals indicated his intended movements, and as Mac nodded in agreement, Gibbs faded silently into the trees, disappearing within seconds.

"What's going on?" Bishop demanded. She winced as her tired muscles spasmed in protest to her attempt to lean closer.

Mac motioned for her to be quiet as he strained to listen to the silence around them. When it was obvious by the purse of his lips that he wasn't able to pick up on anything, he readdressed Bishop's question. "I can't explain how I know this, but I think our suspect ran into someone out here; maybe one of his crew was waiting to take him to their hideout." He pulled the map out again, and showed her a few markings on the crumpled paper. "He would have come up this way, judging from where he left the car. This right here," he said, pointing to a new spot on the map, "is right where we're sitting. I don't think we got here in time to head him off, but we're not that far behind him."

Gibbs materialized beside them and picked up his pack. "You're gonna want to see this," he said to MacGyver.

Mac helped pull a very stiff Bishop to her feet. "Yeah?" he asked Gibbs, then rolled his eyes and fell in behind him as Gibbs turned without speaking and headed back towards the clearing.

"Interesting," Mac said slowly as they drew to a halt at the edge of the open spot. "I wonder how that happened."

"What am I missing?" Bishop demanded as the two guys stared glumly at the ground. All she could see were scattered leaves, mud, and a circle of stones with charred wood in the middle.

"We missed them… by a whole lot longer than I could have thought possible." Mac stepped sideways, his head tilted to the side as his eyes roved over the scene.

Bishop tamped down her irritation; she was genuinely curious but was tired of prying the information out of them. "How can you tell?"

"How many sets of prints do you see?" he asked in return.

She studied the ground, noticing indistinct puckers in the mud. "Two?" When Mac's next breath was deeper, she shook her head. "Three? Four?" she continued to amend, noticing that he was looking a little pained. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. We're only tailing one guy, but you said he might have met up with one of his crew."

Mac shook his head. "Mud's easy, Ellie. I knew someone who could differentiate prints made in dry sand. Now that's hard!"

"It might be easy for you and Gibbs, but I missed out on those Boy Scout lessons," she informed him defensively. "I'm no Park Ranger!"

Irritation hooded his eyes as his expression stilled instantly. "No, but you are an investigator. Just because you're not in your normal surroundings doesn't mean you can't do your job!"

Properly chagrined, she stepped forward to try again. "It looks like this set here came from that direction… away from this little clearing." She waited until Mac nodded, then bolstered herself and tried again. "This set here came from…over that way, from uphill instead of from down."

"There you go," Mac approved. "And the others?"

She stared at him. "What others?"

"The other prints?" When it was obvious she didn't know what he was talking about, MacGyver stepped around Gibbs and pointed to a spot on the ground that Bishop hadn't even looked at. "A deer wandered through over here, looking for water. He was scared off, probably by the coyote that left these tracks here. That had to have been just after two raccoons went through the clearing, looking for scraps to scavenge. I'm guessing they found something, because they took whatever it was up here to the water that collected in the depression on this big rock to wash it." He got Gibbs confirming nod, then glanced at Bishop. "What does this tell us?" he wanted to know.

She spread her hands in frustration. "That I am hopelessly inept in a forest and that you should have brought McGee? He's a Wolf Pack Kid, or a Boy Adventurer, or something. This episode of 'Wild America' has been fascinating, but I have no idea of its relevance."

Mac put a hand over his eyes. "Awww, man; I feel old. Kids aren't taught basic survival skills anymore; If the world of technology ever fails us, the human race is doomed."

"This world is a different place than when you were young," Bishop reminded him. "Kids can't spend all day playing in the woods like they used to… there are too many human predators. 'Basic survival skills' now involve 'Stranger Danger', maintaining a strong password, and how not to get the crap beat out of you in school."

Both Mac and Gibbs were nodding sadly. "I'm sorry Ellie. You're right," Mac admitted. "Okay, then let me translate this scene for you. The guy we're looking for approached from the south, and hung out here for enough time to build a fire. The second guy came out of the woods, saw the fire, and waited. I can tell, because he didn't move forwards, but shuffled his feet; see how the tracks are all pointing in the same direction, but there's a million of them? When our suspect noticed him, the second guy made these tracks coming up to the fire here. After a little more conversation, they killed the fire and took off in this direction. I'm going to say it was just after dawn yesterday. The ashes from the fire are blown around, so the wind's been working at it for a few hours. The animals came back for the water after the smell of the fire died, which takes a while, and it's been a busy place when they did return." He scratched the side of his jaw as he stared at the ground. "What I can't understand is…"

"We're at least a day and a half behind them," Gibbs finished as Mac trailed off.

"I'll repeat your earlier question," Bishop offered. "How did that happen? We got moving right after the BOLO came back."

"What exactly did the information include? Did whoever sighted the car watch it drive up, or did they stumble across it?" Mac asked. "The Cougar's no idiot; he saw me come running up to Andy after he got shot. He has to know we're after him. He probably had one of his guys take his car up here to warn the rest of the crew. That could have happened right away. This area's so remote that it could have taken this long for someone to stumble across the car."

Bishop waited quietly while Gibbs and Mac pondered their options. "So, we figure the rest of the crew up here has already packed up and moved out? We can head back to DC and pick up the search there?"

Gibbs shook his head. "We assumed once, and look where it got us."

"We press on," Mac agreed as he poked through the underbrush. He came up with a short length of 3"-diameter PVC pipe and a tuft of steel wool. "I can't believe this guy!"

"Still tree hugging?" Gibbs snorted. "Bishop's right… you're gonna end up lugging a landfill out of here."

"Still not asking you to carry anything extra," Mac said with deceptive lightness. "Lead on, Gibbs."

Bishop trailed off after Gibbs' long strides, unable to stop herself from looking over her shoulder as MacGyver knelt to rearrange the supplies in his pack. He'd pulled out a length of steel wire, which he re-wound into a tighter roll and tucked inside the PVC pipe with the steel wool. Putting that on the bottom of his pack and tossing everything in on top, Mac zipped his bag closed and got back to his feet.

"I don't understand you," Bishop admitted, hoping he didn't hear her.

The look he shot her out of the corner of his eye meant he had heard her words, but he didn't say anything as he walked past her.

-..- .. -..

 _Any guesses on what Mac is going to come up with, using the materials he's found already?_


	21. Chapter 21: Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch

The phone on Gibbs' desk rang, and Tony jumped to his feet to answer it. According to the screen, the call originated in Abby's Lab. "Hey, Abs!" he greeted. "What do you have?"

There was a pause. "You're not Gibbs," Abby informed him. "Where is Gibbs?"

Tony was surprised that Abby hadn't heard. Gossip usually flew faster than cellular data in the NCIS building, and Abby was ordinarily quite well informed as to the happenings involving her team. "Gibbs, Mac, and Bishop went out looking for our suspect," he informed her.

"Gibbs isn't answering his cell. Is everything okay?" Abby asked in concern.

"They're in the deep woods; probably out of cell phone range. They have a satellite phone, if you really need to talk to Gibbs."

"No," Abby decided. "You'll do. Get down here. I've got something." Tony shook his head as he hung the phone back up, then hurried to the elevator.

When he reached the doorway to the Lab, his nose wrinkled. "Abby? What is that smell?" he demanded, hurrying in to ensure the forensic scientist was all right.

"Tony!" Abby called, coming out of her office. She had a clothes pin affixed firmly to her own nose. "These chemicals stink!"

"I noticed!" Tony reached back to one of Abby's exhaust fans and ensured that it was dialed up to the highest setting. "What on earth is going on in here?"

She gestured to her table, where glass dishes and trays were laid out. "I ran all of the evidence from the warehouse where Andy Schwimmer was shot. There were traces of all sorts of unusual chemicals, which Major Mass Spec was able to identify for me. I remember reading that this Cougar guy is a drug runner, weapons dealer, and all around bad guy, so I wondered if some of these chemicals might be part of the weapons side of his business. I'm still running tests, but if you track down where these chemicals were purchased, that'll get you closer to catching this guy!"

"Then, what is making this horrible smell?" Tony demanded.

Abby shrugged, wincing a little as her clothes pin moved and she accidentally inhaled through her nose. "I'm trying to figure out what their end goal was with these chemicals. None of them make any sense when mixed together; unless it's some strange reaction that happens with the perfect recipe. I got curious, so I tried a few combinations. Unless The Cougar wants to create some kind of stink-bomb, I'm at a loss so far."

"Well, get some fresh air… breathing this in can't be good for you," Tony advised, accepting the list of chemicals she'd handed to him before backing quickly towards the door.

She followed him as he sidled backwards. "I wish MacGyver were still here; let me know the second he gets back, okay? With his background in chemistry, he might have an idea on what this stuff is capable of."

Tony stepped out into the fresher air of the hallway. "I promise, Abby."

She followed him, pulling the door closed behind her. She tugged the pin free, rubbing at the red mark it left on her nose. "Ugh! Tony, you said Gibbs, MacGyver, and Bishop went into the deep woods? What are they doing there?"

"We got a BOLO back on Salazar's car; Mac had some satellite images that showed buildings in the same area. They're going to check it out."

"How deep are these deep woods?" Abby demanded. "Deep enough that they're out of cell phone range, obviously, but where are they?"

"They packed for an overnighter," Tony shrugged. "Mac said something about 'a first-class ticket to MacGyver-Land'…whatever that means."

Abby's eyes widened and she covered her dark lips with her hands. "Oh, poor Ellie!" At Tony's instant concern, Abby waved to dispel her words. "I remember working with MacGyver back when I was in high school, and Mac said the same thing to me… we were lost out there for the better part of two days with a crazy eco-terrorist on our trail and a hungry gator chewing holes in our equipment! I don't know how we made it out of there alive! 'MacGyver-Land' is not the safest place to visit…even if MacGyver himself is with you!"


	22. Chapter 22: What Did I Just Eat?

_I would apologize for the mass up-load, but I'm too excited. I had a few days off of work, and an idea stuck. I admit, nothing much on my to-do list got done that glorious three-day weekend, but I completely reworked about twelve pages of this story._

* * *

"How long are we going to be out here?" Bishop demanded a few hours later, noticing that the sun was sinking rapidly toward the horizon.

"Until we catch the guy," Gibbs retorted.

Her wide dark eyes swung to MacGyver for clarification. "But… It's getting dark out here. I mean, we won't make it back to the car by the time the sun sets. We're not going deeper into the woods, are we?"

"Why do you think I picked up that extra sleeping bag for you?" MacGyver said with apology in his voice.

She froze, the pleading in her eyes tugging at Mac's heartstrings. "You're not…serious…? Please, tell me this is a joke!"

"No joke," Gibbs informed her. He ignored her gasp as he gazed around the small clearing they stood in. "Whaddya think, Mac? Is this a good place to spend the night?"

Kicking together a small pile of rocks, looking the area over for evenness of terrain and proximity to fuel, MacGyver nodded. "Looks pretty comfortable to me," he agreed. He swung his backpack off his shoulders, feeling his tired muscles protesting as he set it down next to a large boulder and started undoing the straps. "You build the fire, and I'll bust out the rations," he offered to Gibbs.

Bishop stepped forward, determined to make the best of of the situation. "I'll cut firewood," she offered, gesturing for the small hand-axe that Mac pulled out of his bag. Mac's approving grin helped to restore some of her confidence as she accepted the handle he held out for her. "I cut firewood all the time, back at home," she explained. "We had a woodturning stove that we'd light during the winter."

He grinned. "Nothing like a cozy fire to chase away the chills."

"Are we gonna stand here and talk about it, or actually get the fire lit?" Gibbs wanted to know from the tripod he'd set up over the stones ringing their fire pit. As Mac tossed a dismissive wave over his shoulder at him, Gibbs got to his feet and dusted himself off.

Her recent surge of confidence rapidly melting as her body informed her of a new and pressing need, Bishop wrapped her fingers around the handle of the axe, weaving slightly as she shifted her weight from side to side. "Um…?" she started, but fell silent as both Gibbs and MacGyver turned to look at her.

"You got something to say, Bishop?" Gibbs asked when she didn't continue.

Looking horribly uncomfortable, Bishop shook her head. "No, forget it."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, then slipped off into the growing darkness to gather firewood.

When she was sure he was out of earshot, Bishop sidled closer to MacGyver. "This is really embarrassing," she started, lowering the small axe in front of her knees, which were tightly pressed together.

"Go about fifteen paces up that hill there, find a rock to lean against, and dig a small hole. Don't forget your toilet paper," MacGyver instructed, answering the question he knew she was too mortified to ask. When she fled with utmost gratefulness, Mac couldn't help a long, silent bout of laughter.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Man, I felt for that poor girl! She was in way over her head… and the rough part of the night hadn't even started yet!_

Mac threw a look over his shoulder as he heard a single twig snap. Gibbs had reappeared and was putting together a bed of kindling before stacking larger twigs and branches over it. When Gibbs noticed Mac's attention, he shot a look at the axe Bishop had abandoned and raised his eyebrows in a question. "Ladies room," Mac answered, and Gibbs nodded. "I'm going shopping… be right back!" Mac continued, picking up a few small stones and heading off in the direction of a rustling branch he'd noticed. He gave a friendly and reassuring nod to Bishop as she returned from her errand to scoop up the axe.

By the time Bishop returned with her last load, the fire was crackling merrily in the dark twilight, and beautiful aromas were swirling out of Mac's battered silver kettle. Gibbs was drinking something hot out of a tin cup while Mac sipped water out of a canteen. "Hungry?" Mac asked, passing over a plate with a helping of fresh salad on it. "There's stew, too, when it's done cooking," he added, stirring the aromatic contents in the kettle.

Bishop accepted the plate. "I usually don't eat salad without dressing, but this is amazing," she said after tucking into the mound of what looked like leaves and flowers. "This is so fresh; there's no way you could have packed this," she realized around a mouthful of greenery.

Mac looked up from stirring the meat to grin at her. "If I had access to a forest like this, I could eat like a king for an entire summer without once going to a grocery store; paying nearly three dollars for a few stalks of kale just kills me. Granted, you have to know what you're looking for… some of these plants have bits you shouldn't eat, and some look like a poisonous relative so an untrained eye could get confused. I've spent enough time roughing it in my life that I can pick out the edible plants easily."

Bishop saved one of the sweet flowers as she finished her salad and handed her plate back to MacGyver. "Who would have thought; something so pretty could be so delicious! Gibbs, did you try these?"

Gibbs nodded, glancing at his own polished plate. "Mac spoiled me years ago. His are the only salads I'll eat without complaining."

"High praise indeed from such a dedicated carnivore," Mac ribbed him. "Speaking of, the stew's done." He ladled a spoonful on Ellie's dish and passed it back.

She attacked it eagerly, using the accompanying metal camping spork to shovel the chunks of meat into her mouth. "Mmmm, this is good! Thanks!"

"You're welcome," Mac grinned as he dished out stew for himself and Gibbs. "Eat up… you're going to need your energy for tomorrow's hike."

She accepted another spoonful from him, using a hard roll that Gibbs tossed her to soak up the gravy. "I was starving! Are we going to eat like this for breakfast too? I mean, if I have to be out here in the forgotten reaches of nowhere, I'm glad the food is so good!"

Mac wiped gravy from his chin and swallowed before answering. "I'm glad you like it," he replied, unable to help tossing a conspiratorial grin at Gibbs. "We might not have this exact recipe again, but I'm sure I can make our meals out at least edible."

"Your backpack isn't that big," Bishop realized, swallowing the last of her stew. "And, like the salad, this tastes too fresh to have been packed. How did you manage such a fantastic meal?" She nodded gratefully as Mac offered her the last bit from the kettle.

Mac and Gibbs shared a look that was heavy with humor. After Bishop ran her finger around the rim of the plate and stuck it in her mouth, she prodded him to answer her question. "Oh, I'm full of surprises," Mac replied after a few moments.

"Your aim is still as good as ever. For a man who won't handle a gun, you're still deadly with a rock," Gibbs complimented his old buddy.

Bishop tugged a moist towelette from her pack and cleaned her fingers and chin. "What do you mean?"

Mac looked as if he really didn't want to answer that question. "I never hunt for sport," he started. "Just for what I need to eat at the time."

"Okay…?"

"And Gibbs is right… I don't do guns. So, if I want protein, I've got to come up with other ways of finding it. We're too far from a stream for me to fish…"

Bishop realized he was stalling, and even in the flickering fire light, they could see the color draining from her face. "What did I just eat?"

Mac held a hand out to placate her. "Remember, I didn't feed you anything we didn't eat ourselves." When she was not satisfied with that answer, he sent a questioning glance to Gibbs, who merely shrugged in return. "Keep in mind how much you enjoyed it," he tried again. "I'm no master chef, but I do have a few good squirrel recipes…"

"Oh, God!" Bishop moaned, dropping her plate and covering her mouth.

"You'll survive," Gibbs informed her without pity. "C'mon… time to rack out. Long day ahead of us."

Mac allowed Bishop a few moments to compose herself while he cleaned up the food and repacked the bags. Gibbs was spreading out the bed rolls, side by side and close enough to the fire to enjoy the warmth, but out of reach of the flames and smoke. Without ceremony, Gibbs unzipped the flap on the one on the end and crawled in. Rolling on his side, he heaved a long sigh and closed his eyes.

Bishop had managed to keep her dinner down, but she still looked a little pasty. "I can't believe I ate squirrel!"

"And liked it," Mac reminded her helpfully, earning a reproachful glare that he laughed off. "C'mon, it's gonna get cold, now that the sun's gone down. Crawl in," he said, pointing to the center bed roll.

She scrunched her eyes up, unwilling to believe what she heard. "What, now?" she demanded, realizing that there wasn't much room between the three bags; if Gibbs was on the outside and Mac was pointing her towards the center, then she'd be sandwiched between her Boss and a near stranger all night long. Continuing to hesitate, she debated on picking up the sleeping bag up so she could move it.

Mac seemed to sense what she was thinking, and he shook his head. "You're gonna appreciate the body heat in about a half an hour. The smoke from the fire won't bother you here, and I think you'd be a little uneasy with what might be crawling around once it gets really dark."

She very nearly whimpered. "You have got to be kidding!"

Mac held up a hand. "Look, I promise to be a perfect…"

"Gentleman?" Gibbs filled in from ground level, his sleepy voice thick with humor.

"Always!" Mac retorted instantly. "I was going to say, 'chaperone!' Nothing will happen to compromise your reputation… Oww!" he complained as Gibbs lobbed a pinecone at his head.

"Bishop, quit messing around," Gibbs ordered, pulling the edge of his bag back up to his chin and rolling over. Pillowing his head on his folded arms, he dropped back off to sleep.

Mac was done waiting for her to move, so he slid into his own bag, curled up and closed his eyes.

Moving gingerly, Bishop shimmied between the layers of her own bag, grunting a little at the spots of hard ground she encountered. She could feel Gibbs shifting to avoid catching her knee in his kidney, so she tried to roll her weight back a little…only to hear a muffled, 'oof!' from MacGyver as her elbow found his shoulder blade. The ground was bumpy under her head, so she dove deeper into the bag and tried to fold the end to create some kind of cushion. Once she was firmly inside, she tried to get settled… only to realize that with the way the two guys had dropped off to sleep, if she wanted to get comfortable, she'd have to spoon one of them.

" _I hate you both_!" she hissed into the frosty air.

* * *

 _By the way, keep an eye on the chapter titles..._


	23. Chapter 23: Good? Morning!

_The poor girl! Truly, can Bishop endure any more of this? But wait... There's More!_

* * *

Sounds filtered into her consciousness, and Bishop tried to block them out by burrowing deeper into her pillow. "She looks so peaceful… I almost hate to disturb her," she heard MacGyver's teasing whisper from close by her head.

A snort came from a few feet away. "Peaceful?" Gibbs demanded. "If I had a nickel for every time she kicked me during the night…"

Bishop prayed the ground would open up and swallow her as she snuggled deeper into her pillow. She had never in her life found herself in such a bizarre position; certainly she'd missed the part in her job description that had included overnight camp outs in the woods with her Boss. Had that clause been in her contract, she never would have signed!

"You're gonna have to find breakfast," Mac whispered again. "I'm not moving yet. She's finally getting a good sleep, and she's gonna need it."

"She'll kill you when she wakes up if you don't move first," Gibbs warned.

Bishop debated on moving, but she'd finally gotten comfortable and started to rest… except there was buried laughter in both men's voices, and she was dreading to find out what they found so amusing. She struggled to crack her eyes open, and then wished she hadn't…

She'd never had a pillow. The softness under her head that she'd been burrowing into was the silky sleeping bag material piled over MacGyver's chest.

Her frantic attempts to scramble to her feet were thwarted by her own sleeping bag, which had somehow managed to twine itself around her in a wicked braid.

"Easy, easy! Slow down; you're gonna fall and hurt yourself!" Mac counseled, catching her as she teetered backwards.

"You! You let me… How _could_ you…?" Bishop hissed, her eyes blazing as she hurled furious gazes between Gibbs and MacGyver.

"Settle down, Bishop," Gibbs ordered, shaking his head with weary irritation.

"I'm not happy I'm out here either, Gibbs, but if you remember, I didn't have a choice in this!" She threw off MacGyver's steadying hand and kicked her feet free of her bag. "The longest I've ever spent in a forest was a case we worked in Rock Creek Park back in DC. I'm not used to this. I am an Information Analyst, not a Girl Scout!"

"You done?" Gibbs barked when she paused for breath.

Mac cut in to the conversation before Gibbs could get warmed up. "Ellie, it's always a good idea to learn the basics of surviving in the woods. This is a valuable experience that you can apply in more places in your career than just in the forest. Plus, it got you out of the office for a while… with Gibbs gone, DiNozzo's in charge, right?"

She glared at him, her expression softening only slightly as she realized he was right.

"Look at how much you've learned already," he tried again. "You learned to read tracks, how to pace yourself while hiking, learned that there are food options all around you…"

She turned her back on him as she marched to her backpack. "Very valuable bits of knowledge," she agreed with sarcasm. She dug out her roll of toilet paper and stormed out into the woods.

"You learned how to do that, too," Mac had to throw after her, earning him a bark of laughter from Gibbs and a short scream of fury from Bishop.


	24. Chapter 24: That's A Lot of Blood!

The morning's hike had been a silent, strained affair. Gibbs had never been the greatest conversationalist, even on a good day. MacGyver enjoyed the peace of the forest too much to shatter it with small talk. Bishop was too furious with both of them to be able to speak at all. MacGyver had taken advantage of the 'mad energy' to pick up the pace of their travels, and they'd made up quite a bit of time. However, it was obvious that Bishop was beginning to tire. Although she had learned a lot the day before, she was still new at this. She was also sore from the previous day's effort and tired from a night of poor sleep. She was starting to stagger and bounce off of things again, forcing MacGyver to slow down.

"Be careful...there are a lot of loose branches here," Mac called back as he skimmed nimbly over a tangle of dead wood. "And a pretty sharp drop over there," he added, looking over the short cliff to their right.

Bishop knew the warning was for her... Gibbs was so adept at traveling through this cursed terrain that he barely left a footprint. She was getting really sick of the forest. Really a lot... She tried to put her feet exactly where she'd seen MacGyver step, but his legs were longer. She twisted her body, hiking one leg up in the air as she tried to locate the most stable place to land it. She could feel her planted foot sinking into the mucky loam, which shifted her balance. Her hip crashed against a branch, and she gasped as the whole pile shifted. A sharp pain in her ankle and a wet heaviness on her knee told her that she was pinned. "Mac, help!"

He and Gibbs were at her side in seconds. Gibbs caught another branch as it attempted to slide, keeping that added weight off of her.

"We're going to need to block this somehow," Mac mumbled, dropping to his knees as he contemplated the snarl of wood. "Otherwise, it's going to keep tightening up, and we'll never get her out."

Gibbs grunted as another branch broke free and slid into him. "This didn't look this dangerous when we started walking into it. What happened?"

Mac shook his head. "Dunno. It's weird."

"Weird?" Bishop had to ask, trying not to panic as two forked branches, each facing in opposite directions, closed in around her ankle. "I'm about to have my foot amputated, and you think this is weird?"

"If I had the time to argue… I still wouldn't," he informed her, his gaze flicking up to her, enough strength behind his dark eyes to silence her. He stood, backing slowly away from the pile until he found his backpack. Without taking his eyes off of the pile, he dug around inside, finally pulling out a length of rope. "Need to find an anchor," he muttered, looping the rope around the closest tree branch. When it was set, he used it to gently pull the heavier of the wood pieces away from her.

"Bishop, pick your foot up when the pressure eases," Gibbs ordered, keeping sharp watch on the moving wood.

The second she felt the release of pressure, Bishop jerked her foot up. Her boot had created quite a suction in the mud, requiring more effort than she expected to free it. She redoubled her efforts, and when her foot finally did break free, she overcompensated and found herself flailing in open air.

"Watch it, watch it, watch... Oh, great!" Mac hollered as the rope snapped, sending Gibbs and Bishop flying over the edge of the short cliff. He ducked under a flying branch, scrambled backwards to avoid another, then crab-crawled to the edge to take stock. He saw a safe place to slide down, so without waiting for the dust to clear, he started a controlled descent.

He found Gibbs first. The Special Agent was scratched and bruised, but Mac could tell by the way he was moving that he wasn't too badly hurt. "Bishop?" he called, catching sight of her pink jacket under a sizable pile of debris.

A pained moan was the only response. Without speaking, Gibbs made his way over and started helping Mac dig her out. Branch after branch were thrown aside, and while they were both desperate to reach her, they knew that one wrong move could cause more to fall on top of her.

"That's... a lot of blood," Mac whispered as they pulled another small log off of her.

"Head wounds bleed," Gibbs returned shortly, and although he tried to keep his expression stoic, Mac could tell he was deeply worried.

"Bishop, can you hear me?" Mac called, making sure his tone was smooth and soothing. If she was conscious, she was probably in shock. She was going to be hurting pretty badly, and he didn't want her thrashing around and making her injuries worse. He moved yet another leafy branch, and was able to see her face. Her eyes were closed and her skin was pasty, but she was breathing.

The last of the debris was cleared away, and Mac grunted in surprise as Gibbs pushed him aside to reach his fallen agent. Gibbs checked her out, relief flooding his face when her pulse and breathing were strong. "She's got a bad cut on her head, but I think it's superficial," he said.

"Why don't you let me take over," Mac suggested. "I had to sit through yet another First Aid class for the Phoenix Foundation, and this time, I actually learned a few new tricks. What I really need from you is hot water to clean her up with."

Grateful to have something to do that he was good at but completely unwilling to show it, Gibbs darted off to start a fire. Something close to panic showed in his eyes when he was back at MacGyver's side in seconds. "My matches… they're gone!"

Mac rifled through his pockets, unable to find his own. "Uh-oh… Wait! Go through my bag. Get the 9-volt battery and that steel wool. Touch the steel wool to the contacts on the battery. Use the toilet paper to catch the sparks!"

Gibbs was once again gone, and while Mac listened with half an ear to his progress, he turned back to the injured woman before him.

"Easy, Ellie," Mac encouraged as her eyelids fluttered. He used his bandana to wipe the blood away from her face, and the amount worried him. He knew that head wounds bled like crazy; he'd had enough of them in his lifetime, but this one looked ugly. It would need stitches. While Mac was a resourceful person, a suture needle was not something easily produced. Fortunately, he had another idea that wouldn't involve a needle at all. He just needed to get the wound cleaned up.

"Water's hot," Gibbs said, coming up behind him.

"That was fast," Mac complimented. He couldn't help a brief chuckle as Gibbs shot him a look that clearly asked if Mac thought he was going to waste any time. "Help me carry her to the fire," Mac said, reaching down to slide his hands under her shoulders.

"Err..." Gibbs grunted with hesitation. "Might have a problem there."

Mac paused to look him over, and realized that Gibbs hid pain better than anyone he'd ever known. He had a pretty bad cut on his left arm above the elbow that had soaked the sleeve all the way down to the cuff. "Great..." He looked around for something to use to tie up as a make-shift tourniquet, but Gibbs waved him off. "Yeah, you're upright and moving, and she's not. Let's get her taken care of first," Mac agreed.

Gibbs was able to lift with his right arm, and between the two of them, they managed to half-drag Bishop closer to the fire. With Gibbs' help to regulate the water temp, Mac cleaned Bishop's head wound. "I'm going to start working on this, but it's still bleeding. What I need is for you to keep a steady stream of water going on this, so I can see what I'm doing," Mac said.

"We're gonna run out of water," Gibbs warned.

Mac looked at the supply in the pail Gibbs had hung on a makeshift tripod over their hastily constructed fire. "Yeah, you're right. We have two options. One, I stay here and try to close this wound while you head to the stream that's a quarter mile away from us to get water. Two, you stay here and hold something over her wound to try to clot it while I run to the stream and get water. Option three... hang on a second...?"

"You can rig something to catch the water pouring out of that rock over there?" Gibbs guessed as MacGyver noticed a thick trickle seeping from a crack in one of the boulders. "Three's got my vote."

"If you guys had to go and get hurt on me, I'm glad you decided to do it here," Mac groused, passing over the wad of dressing he'd been using to put pressure on Bishop's head. "If you can, hold that with your bad arm and use what water's left to get yourself cleaned up. We don't need you getting infected either."

Rigging up tubing was easy once Mac did a quick inventory of their supplies on hand. Bishop had packed trail mix that came in 2x6" bags, so he cut them in half long-ways and taped all of the edges together with the duct tape in his back pocket. There was enough plastic to run an aqueduct right from the source of the water to the coffee mug from Gibbs' kit. It took only a few moments for the mug to fill, but to put enough water in the pail over the fire took more time than Mac was comfortable spending.

"Gibbs, I'll take over with her; I need you to run this," he said, gesturing to the apparatus before him. Gibbs obligingly took over, leaving Mac to return to his patient.

He again cleaned the wound and all of the surrounding hair. "It's a good thing you haven't had a haircut in a while," he muttered as he separated strands on both sides of the cut. His dexterous fingers started weaving the strands into a tight braid that pulled the edges of the cut together and held them. Bishop moaned and tried to squirm away, but Mac put a wrestling hold on her that kept her steady. He accepted a cup of warm water from Gibbs to rinse away the seepage, and he had to admit he was impressed with the finished product. "It won't win any styling contests, but she's not going to bleed to death any time soon," Mac muttered, laying Bishop back down. "Speaking of bleeding, let's take a look at that arm."

Gibbs had used his knife to cut away the ripped sleeve, and he'd already cleaned it once. "It's not that bad," he tried to insist.

Mac wasn't having any of it. "It's ragged and deep. You did a good job cleaning it, but we've got to close it somehow."

"Hair's not long enough to braid?"

"I'd be worried if it was," Mac shot back, standing and moving to the pile of junk that Gibbs had dumped out of his bag. "Put pressure on it for now. I've got an idea."

Gibbs clenched his teeth as he slapped another dressing from the First Aid kit on the cut. "I'd be worried if you didn't," he returned, attempting a smile.

MacGyver paused in clambering up a neighboring pine tree. Something in his old friend's voice didn't sound right. "You feeling light-headed there, Gibbs? Might want to sit down for a little while." A thrill of concern went through MacGyver's gut when Gibbs obligingly went down beside the fire. He had to be hurting a lot to follow that kind of direction so well. Trying not to let his worry distract him, Mac found what he was looking for... a broken branch with thick, gummy resin seeping out. Scraping the thick substance with the shard of glass he'd picked up earlier, MacGyver gathered enough for his purposes, and slid out of the tree. "Get over here, Gibbs… Let me seal that cut."

"What are you…?" Gibbs demanded as Mac starting spreading the resin over his injury.

"Believe me, this works! The pine resin has natural anti-bacterial properties, it'll seal this wound better than stitches, and it's not a dressing that's going to move or need to be changed before we get out of the woods."

"You learn this from your first aid class?"

Shaking his head, Mac smiled with fond remembrance. "Nope… I was privileged to help out a Native American community. I got banged up a little trying to recover their stolen property. One of the elders patched me up with pine resin. Between that and the herbal tea they fed me, I bounced back quicker than I expected."

Bishop's moan interrupted them, and Mac left Gibbs' side to go check on her. She was starting to come around, and she looked like she was in a lot of pain.

"Easy, Ellie," he soothed, catching her hand as she tried to bring it up to her head. "No, you'd better leave that alone. It's going to hurt like crazy for a while, but you've got to trust me… you're going to be fine."

She looked so bewildered and lost with her lower lip trembling and her eyes silvered with tears that Mac sat down beside her and pulled her up against him. Her whole body was trembling with shock as he rubbed her back. "…hurts…" she whimpered, pulling her left arm across her body to cradle her wrist in her lap.

With his arm still around her shoulder, he pulled her tighter against his chest and leaned in to take a look. She winced as his fingers gently probed the small bones of her wrist, and her whole arm twitched as he found the sore spot.

"It's the radius, not the wrist," Mac reported in relief. "Still gonna hurt, but it's not as traumatic or delicate an injury as if you'd broken your wrist." She didn't seem to have heard, so Mac went back to rubbing her back as he lost himself in thought.

"I can see the wheels turning," Gibbs commented after a moment. "What clever idea are you cooking up now?"

"She'll need a cast on that, to keep it from getting worse. I think she broke the bone; more of an impact fracture or a crack, but it's still gonna hurt."

"And you have an idea," Gibbs asserted. While it was a definite statement Gibbs had made, there was still a lot of hope buried in it.

"Of course," Mac said with a grin, his smile broadening as relief made Gibbs' next breath deeper. "I need you to come over here and hold her. I'll get the sleeping bags and cover you both up. You lost enough blood that I'm worried about you getting shocky, so the warmth will do you good too. Don't argue!" he interrupted himself as Gibbs tried to protest. "Just shut up and listen to me for once, Gunny. We've been in tough scrapes before, and you know what I'm capable of."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, but was silent as he dragged himself over to take MacGyver's place holding Bishop upright. He even condescended to help wrap the sleeping bag around himself and his other agent.

Mac threw extra wood on their fire, adding some green pine branches in. While the fire got really smoky, it also burned even hotter. Returning to the pile of stuff emptied from his backpack, he rooted through until he found the steel wire and the PVC pipe. The pipe went on a flat rock, balanced on the edge of the fire, while MacGyver hunted up a smooth stone roughly the size of his fist.

When the PVC pipe was just about hot enough to melt, Mac braced it between a few other rocks he'd assembled, then brought out the steel wire, using it to saw through the softened plastic. The smooth stone was used to push the pliable plastic into the negative image of Bishop's wrist. He waited until the plastic was cooler before carrying it over to his patient and seeing if his improvised cast would fit.

"You're something else," Gibbs informed him as the cast fit with laser-like precision.

"Amazing what a little 'tree hugging' can do… And you mocked me!" Mac grinned back. "How're you holding up?"

Gibbs examined the pine sap bandage on his arm, and nodded. "Arm's still attached."

'Well, that's a good thing." Mac strapped the make-shift cast into place using the steel wire he'd cut it with and a tie-string from one of the backpacks. "She's gonna need a doctor," Mac said slowly. "Means we have to call off the hunt and radio for help."

Gibbs scowled, but nodded. "Hate giving up."

"I don't choose to look at it as 'giving up'. I prefer to think of it as 'readdressing our options,'" MacGyver shrugged, tugging the satellite phone out of his pack and holding it up. "Do you want to do the honors?"

The look Gibbs gave him would have frozen the water boiling in the pot.

"I'll take that as a 'no'…" Mac said, rolling his eyes as he dialed the phone.

"We're a day and a half into the woods; you got a plan?"

MacGyver was examining his cell phone, where a saved screenshot from the satellite he'd moved the day before glowed on the screen. He compared it to the map he'd tugged from a pocket. "Our next job is finding a clearing large enough for a helicopter to get to us."

Gibbs stared at him in disbelief. "You were gonna get your helicopter ride in somehow, weren't you?" As Mac's only response was an oh-so-innocent smile, Gibbs heaved a sigh. "Nothing around here big enough to land in," Gibbs commented.

Mac's smile was growing roguish. "I didn't say, 'land'… I said, 'get to us.' There's a difference. If the chopper lowers one of those basket doo-dads, they can get us out in two or three lifts."

"You set this up in advance, didn't you?"

Mac gave his old friend a searching look. "Gibbs, it's me; MacGyver. Mr. 'Always Prepared for Everything'?"

Gibbs only slitted his eyes.

Mac broke the tripod down, saving the water and killing the fire with dirt. Once he was certain the fire was completely out, he went about packing up their supplies. "I'll make you a deal, Gibbs," he started, gnawing thoughtfully on his bottom lip. "You carry the backpacks…"

"What?"

"…and I'll carry Bishop. She's in no shape to walk, and you sure can't lift her."

Gibbs huffed. "You're no younger than I am, Mac!"

MacGyver mimed taking an arrow to the heart. "Gibbs, I'm hurt… truly! I meant because both of my arms are working, while you seem to be down one for the moment…" He gave that a moment to sink in, and when he read Gibbs' expression and figured out how far he could push his old buddy, he started in again. "You know, while it's true in a certain sense that I'm chronologically close to you, I think physically I'm in better shape."

Gibbs threw him a hard look. "Oh, really?"

"You know I'm a stickler about my diet, for one thing. I've never been married, for another; I can tell what your many adventures have done to you…"

Gibbs was just about to retort, but a moan from the form huddled under his arm made him break off.

"Boys… Please!" Bishop pleaded, "Let me die in peace!"

Mac stopped laughing long enough to check her injury. "You're not going to die, Ellie."

"Can I get a second opinion?"

Gibbs pushed himself away from her and lumbered to his feet. "You're not going to die," he seconded, grinning at her desolated expression.

She tried to stand, but her legs weren't too steady. Gibbs was closer, and she found herself hanging on to him for dear life as the world spun around her.

"Ow, Bishop! Cut that out!" Gibbs complained.

Mac was at their side in a second, and he gently pried the young woman free. "I've gotcha," he reassured her. He patted her shoulder as she dug the fingers of her good hand into the fabric of his jacket. "Easy now. Deep breaths."

"You sure…?" she wheezed, pressing the uninjured side of her head into his stomach as her own heaved.

He winced at the pressure and at the thought of wearing the squirrel stew she'd eaten last. "Am I sure about what?" he asked in confusion.

"You sure I'm not gonna die?"

"I won't let you," Gibbs intoned. Although his tone was brusque, he was trying to hide his paternal and concerned amusement.

"You might not have a choice," she fired back, sick and hurt enough not to care if he got mad.

"Thank you so much for putting me right in the middle of this little domestic dispute," Mac groused, prying Ellie's forehead out of his navel. "You're not going to die, but you do need medical attention. You might have gotten a concussion, and you're going to need to get that wound properly cleaned out. C'mon, Ellie… It's time to get moving."

She gasped in surprise and vertigo as he swept her up into his arms and held her as easily as if she had been a child. "What?"

"Put your arm around my neck, but be careful of the… Oww!" he grunted as the PVC pipe strapped to her wrist clunked against the back of his skull. "Seriously, Ellie, watch that thing!"

"She might not be the only one with a concussion," Gibbs noticed as Mac swayed and blinked. "You okay?"

"Note to self; send new 'Deep Woods Adventurer' Patch Initiates with a younger field agent for their first adventure in MacGyver-Land," Mac grunted, squinting tightly until the ringing stopped in his ears. "Maybe I am getting too old for this…"

"No longer invincible?" Gibbs needled, but there was an undercurrent of commiseration in his voice that cut the teasing. He too was feeling his age more frequently. Hearing that MacGyver's adventures were starting to catch up with him made Gibbs feel positively ancient.

Mac caught the pensive expression on his old friend's face, and he changed the subject. "I think I hear rotor blades. C'mon. You have the bags, Gibbs?" Mac led the way, balancing Ellie in his arms and feeling carefully with each step, since he couldn't see his feet. Gibbs trudged after them, all of their gear slung over his good arm.


	25. Chapter 25: Getting Patched Up

_Thank you to J0, for a really cool idea that I've referenced here... There will be more 'campfire' moments later on, with all three that you mentioned, I promise!_

* * *

DiNozzo paced around the small waiting room. He was dying to know what happened out in the woods; it was obvious that the mission had gone south when he'd gotten a brief call from Gibbs ordering him to meet them at the hospital. As McGee snagged the keys to get the car started, Tony had called Ducky, who promised to met them there. The ride had been a strained one, and as they arrived, Tony had to bite back his impatience as Security stopped them before they could park; the road to the parking structure was temporarily blocked because a rescue helicopter was en route. Tony's blood had run cold as the chopper settled to earth on the Helipad outside of the back ER doors and he recognized the agents being helped out by the flight crew. Seeing all three of them on their feet, although Bishop looked worse for the wear, had only slightly reassured them. The hospital staff that took their patients back to Triage had opened up the private waiting room that DiNozzo was now pacing.

"How long is this gonna take?" Tony demanded, pausing for a moment in his travels beside McGee.

"As long as it takes," McGee said with patience he didn't feel. "I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when Gibbs took Bishop along. With the adventures we know both of them had, can you imagine the campfire stories Gibbs and MacGyver could have told?"

"Mac would have had to do all the talking," DiNozzo snorted humorously. "You know what kind of a storyteller Gibbs is!"

McGee grinned as he conceded the point, but he sobered as he remembered where they were. "I can't wait to hear the report. Bishop looked rough, but she walked inside under her own power so she can't be hurt too badly."

Tony swept a gaze around the room that landed on Ducky, who was at the nurses' station chatting with the RN's. "I have a feeling we'll get some information soon."

Ducky noticed Tony's attention, and he came over. "They have been moved to treatment rooms just outside of these doors," he informed the two agents. "I believe Gibbs is in the first room, Ellie is in the second, and a very disgruntled MacGyver is in the third."

"Disgruntled?" McGee repeated, but he trailed off in understanding as a raised voice caught his ear.

"Seriously, I'm okay, you guys! What's the big deal?" MacGyver was complaining, his voice carrying down the hallway.

"You were out in the woods for the better part of two days, there was an incident, and policy dictates that you get checked out," the doctor explained for the third time. "Mr. MacGyver, you of all people should know this… with your experience in post-mission checkups, this shouldn't surprise you."

"We don't do anything this crazy at the Phoenix Foundation," MacGyver protested. "I get patched up if I get hurt, but otherwise, they trust me to know if I'm okay or not!"

"Well, you're not punching the Phoenix Foundation's clock right now; you're on NCIS time, and NCIS' policy states that due to the circumstances, you're getting checked out. What are you so worried about? Is there something that you don't want us to find?"

DiNozzo perked up at that. Having read Mac's mission files, he was curious how the man could have survived so much. Many times each he'd been shot, beaten up, tortured, kicked around, dropped from significant heights, whacked over the head, drugged, and nearly drowned. Some of these adventures had even happened within the last three years… and while MacGyver looked nowhere near it, he was well into his sixties. "I wonder what those X-Rays look like," he muttered to himself.

MacGyver's silence must have meant that he was finally submitting to the examination. A few moments passed, the door opened and MacGyver escaped out into the hallway, breathing a sigh of relief as he jerked his leather jacket back up over his shoulders. "Don't think I'm not grateful for your work," he threw back, "But I told you I'm fine!"

The doctor and nurse followed him out, and while the doctor appeared frustrated with his patient, the nurse was fighting to hide a grin.

"What's going on?" DiNozzo asked as Mac reached his side.

His hand rose and fell in a gesture that was more resignation than petulance. "Oh, I shouldn't complain too much. They have to do their thing. I just hate getting poked and prodded like that. They wanted to make sure that I don't have any open wounds that might get infected and that I didn't pick up any creepy-crawlies out there in the woods that might lead to coming down with the pla…. common cold," Mac amended too quickly, making a determined effort to look casual and failing miserably.

Tony's blood had run cold as he mentally finished the sentence as 'coming down with the plague.' It was a common enough phrase, but since Tony had nearly died of pneumonic plague almost a decade back, he was more than a little sensitive to that word. Another thought pinged his keen investigator's mind… why would MacGyver backpedal and choose a different ailment like that? He should have had no way of knowing about Tonys' brush with death. He was still trying unsuccessfully to cover his near-gaffe by turning toMcGee and asking him to pull up the satellite tracking from his phone.

Activity from Gibbs' treatment room made Tony shelve that thought for the moment. A tee-shirt clad Gibbs followed his own doctor and nurse out of the room. "Boss! How are you?" DiNozzo asked, knowing Gibbs hated to be fussed over, but wanting to show his concern anyway.

Gibbs was not nearly as grumpy as DiNozzo would have expected him to be. He was examining the angry red line above his elbow with interest as he came to a halt by Tony's side. "I've been cleared to return to work, thanks to Mac's quick thinking."

MacGyver came over to inspect the injury. "Hey, that looks pretty good!"

"Didn't even need stitches," Gibbs nodded. "Who'da thought… pine resin!"

"Nature provides bountifully," MacGyver grinned.

"Now all we're waiting on is Bishop," DiNozzo said, glancing at the only occupied treatment room. As he spoke, the door opened and the doctor emerged. "How is she, Doc?"

The doctor was shaking his head. "Who designed this cast?" he asked, holding up the modified PVC pipe.

MacGyver tentatively raised a hand.

"Should you ever decide to change professions, you could make serious money in the healthcare industry. I've never seen anything like it. It fit her wrist exactly, keeping it completely immobile during your exit from the forest."

Mac shrugged. "Save the Agent, Save the World, I guess."

"She has a deep bone bruise, but her wrist was not broken," the doctor reported, and everyone smiled at the news. "Her head wound is already starting to heal; we are leaving the braids in for a few more days, so she won't need stitches. The wound was cleaned very well, and there is no sign of infection."

Gibbs cuffed MacGyver's shoulder. "Thanks, Mac."

"I'm going to keep Agent Bishop overnight for observation, but she should be ready to go home tomorrow. I'll see her in a day or two, and make the determination then if she's ready to return to duty. I've just been informed that her husband is on his way to stay with her."

"Jethro, I volunteer to stay with Eleanor until Jake's arrival," Ducky inserted as Gibbs moved to claim one of the chairs in the waiting room. "Go, finish the case. I will watch out for her!"

Properly reassured that their injured team member was in good hands, Gibbs gestured for everyone to gather their belongings and head for the door.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could sure eat," MacGyver mentioned as they left the hospital and reached the vehicles in the parking lot.

"You and your stomach!" Gibbs shook his head.

"What?" Mac demanded. "You can't tell me that you're not hungry after our woodland adventure?" At Gibbs' noncommittal shrug, Mac rolled his eyes. "Bishop ate most of our stew last night…" He broke off as he started to chuckle. "Oh, the look on her face was priceless!"

DiNozzo waited for him to continue, but he and Gibbs seemed content to share that joke amongst themselves. "If Gibbs is about to laugh, I have to know what happened!"

"Mac made stew. Bishop ate it," Gibbs answered.

Mac took pity on DiNozzo. "She was less than thrilled to find out that the meal she enjoyed so completely was squirrel. One of these days, I'll have to share my gila lizard recipe with her. That one's always a crowd pleaser!"

"You've eaten gila lizard?" McGee demanded, looking a little awed…and green. "Why?"

Mac shrugged. "When you're that hungry, you'll eat just about anything. I try to keep my diet mostly vegetarian, but there are times a body needs meat protein."

"Remind me not to go to any ethnic restaurants with you," DiNozzo muttered.

"I'll try any vegetable dish they have," Mac agreed, rubbing his stomach in anticipation. "It's when we are out in the field that I have to get creative."

"Remind me to pack my own protein when on field work with MacGyver," McGee added.

Mac rubbed the back of his head, where it was still just a little bit sore yet from where Bishop had clunked him with the cast. "My days of taking newbies out in the woods are numbered. I don't think you have to worry too much."


	26. Chapter 26:Don't Blow Up My Building!

_Note: Fair warning here; a Chemistry Major I am **not**. I have resorted to Internet Searches to at least  attempt to make this sound realistic. However, I have discovered some really interesting tidbits that I kinda almost sorta partially understand (maybe), thanks to the fine folks at Wikipedia. I highly recommend, before reading this chapter, looking up Josiah Willard Gibbs and his contributions to Chemistry and Thermodynamics. Not only is it a really fascinating read, but it will help explain the joke that MacGyver cracks. (If ever the situation arises where you win big money on Jeopardy because of something you've read there, any contribution to either Wikipedia or the Starving Writer's Guild would be appreciated...)_

* * *

Abby was waiting in the bullpen when the elevator doors opened. "How's Bishop?" she demanded, and reading the reassurance on their faces before they could even speak, she bounded forward and grabbed MacGyver's arm. "Come with me," she ordered, ignoring his bemusement as she threw a defiant look over her shoulder at the others. "Gibbs, I need him. We'll be down in my lab."

"Hang on, Abs," Gibbs ordered. "McGee, DiNozzo, report!" He held up a hand as Abby continued to tug her former mentor past Gibbs' desk. "I want him to hear this."

She heaved a sigh, letting Mac go. "Well, then… Me first! DiNozzo, make with the clicker thing!" As Tony obligingly hit the button, putting screenshots of lab results on the plasmas, Abby stepped forward. "This is from the warehouse where Andy got shot. Major Mass Spec nearly shorted out with running all of this!" she informed them, then read off a list of the chemical names.

Mac's brows rose, collided in the center of his forehead, then hooded over his dark eyes. "That's a bizarre mixture," he admitted as the others tried to interpret his expression.

"That's what I was thinking," Abby agreed. "And let me tell you, I haven't had much success trying to figure it out!"

"What do you mean?" McGee asked.

Mac leaned in closer to Abby, a conspiratorial grin lurking on the corner of his lips as he jerked his chin in Gibbs' direction. "How is he on the 'science speak'? Still a little impatient?" he asked in her ear.

"A _little?!_ " she demanded with a giggle. Reading Mac's amusement, she faked a scowl and lowered her voice to imitate her Boss with, " 'Your point, Abs? In English?' " She squeaked and slid behind Mac's shoulder as she caught the glare Gibbs was firing at her.

"Okay, quick science lesson here," Mac said, addressing the whole team and staunchly ignoring Gibbs' irritation. "You guys know the basics of an explosion; a violent release of energy resulting from a rapid nuclear, or in this case, chemical reaction. There are chemicals that are 'reactive', meaning they cause a reciprocal change when exposed to or mixed with an outside stimulus. There are chemicals that are 'inert', meaning they are stable and nonreactive under most circumstances. What we have here is a strange mixture of mostly inert chemicals, and a few solvents that I've never seen used with them before. I couldn't tell you what the chemical reaction would be without a few experiments…" With a wince, he threw his center of gravity backwards as his words galvanized Abby into once again grabbing his arm and pulling.

"So, let's go, _let's go_ , _C'mon, Mac!_ " she insisted, leaning at close to a forty-five degree angle against his stance, like a five-year-old trying to tug a parent down a toy aisle.

"Abs!" Gibbs barked, his voice arctic enough to freeze her in place.

As he caught his balance, MacGyver's face split into a wide grin. "A perfect example of 'Gibbs Free Energy'… how to use temperature to induce entropy!" He seemed resigned to the fact that although Abby had dissolved into a fit of giggles, Tony and McGee were staring at him with incomprehension, and Gibbs' glare had turned increasingly frigid. "You'd have to be a chemist or a theoretical physicist to completely appreciate that humor," he said without apology.

Gibbs pursed his lips in a bid for patience. "What else?" he asked the other agents.

McGee reached for the clicker, and Tony handed it to him. "Tony and I were busy while you were gone… By the way, MacGyver, I have to commend your office at the Phoenix Foundation; they were incredibly helpful!"

"As expected, but still good to hear," Mac nodded in thanks.

"Starting with the dossier we built on Salazar, and incorporating what your team shared, we put together a list of properties owned by Salazar's companies. We found shipping manifests, and it looks like he has a load of weapons coming in to a warehouse somewhere in this area," and Tim pointed to a map that he brought up on the screen.

"ATF might be helpful in intercepting that," Mac suggested, frowning as everyone gave him a sour look. "Oh, I forgot, sorry; the Phoenix Foundation has a completely different relationship with other agencies than you guys do; we know 'our horse is bigger than their horse' and don't have to prove it. Never mind, forget I said anything!"

"Really, Mac?" Gibbs growled.

Tim rocked as Abby gave him an impatient shove. "Continuing," he said with a roll of his eyes, "We also found a whole lot of purchases that don't seem to be related to anything, coming from a bunch of his smaller companies." Another click on the remote brought invoices up on the screen. "His Industrial Waste Disposal Company just purchased twelve plastic recycling barrels. His legal-on-paper-but-nonexistent-in-reality catering company submitted an order for five cases of dish detergent. Various wires and cables were ordered by the Plumbing and Electrical Supply company."

"All legal and logical purchases for the types of businesses he 'runs'. None of this would have caught anyone's attention in and of itself; which begs the question, how did you connect it?" Mac asked.

Tony and McGee shared a proud smile. "What caught our attention was that all these purchases were made using the same delivery address," Tony explained. "When we gave this to your guys at the Phoenix Foundation, they found a few more orders that also seem disconnected." He clicked up another series of documents to the plasma screen.

Unconsciously puffing out his chest at the familiar and beloved sight of the Phoenix Foundation's logo, Mac leaned in closer to read the documents. "Why on earth would this guy 'run' a landscaping business…" He trailed off, his eyes growing wide and and worried as he read the invoice. "Uh-oh," he muttered. "That's a _lot_ of fertilizer!"

"Why is Salazar buying fertilizer?" Gibbs demanded.

Mac paced the bull pen in a tight circle, causing Abby and Tony to move out of his way as he didn't seem to see them. "Think 'Oklahoma City', Gibbs. You can do a lot of damage with a bomb with fertilizer as its base. I've used it many times to get myself out of tight situations. The nitrites are stable by themselves, but with the right solvent and heat, they can decompose with quite a bang." The team let him think for a moment as he continued to circle the tight space between the desks. "But with the chemicals Abby found, and with the fertilizer now in the 'mix', to pardon the pun, I still can't figure out exactly what he's trying to build!"

"Which is why we need to get to the Lab!" Abby insisted, turning imploring eyes on Gibbs. She bounced happily as Gibbs nodded and waved her away. "Come on, Mac!" she said, and her smile was triumphant as he finally gave in and allowed her to drag him away.

As Mac followed her down the stairs, he had to chuckle aloud at her exuberance. She was practically running over herself with the explanations of what she'd already tried on her own. When Abby clattered to a halt outside her Lab doors and threw them open with a gracious invitation, he bowed theatrically in response and stepped inside.

"Wow, Abby… I was in here before, but didn't have a chance to look around. This is quite the setup you have!" Mac praised, taking in the extensive laboratory environment.

She grinned her thanks to the compliment, but wasn't going to let that slow them down, now that she finally had him where she wanted him. Tossing him a white lab coat and a pair of safety goggles, she led him to the stainless steel table already set up with vials, beakers, trays, and labeled cardboard cartons.

Mac picked up the clipboard with her experiment notes on it, reading it over quickly. "Still brilliant," he praised, looking up to meet her expectant gaze. Sensing her anticipation for him to continue, he picked up where he left off. As one particular blend of chemicals caught his attention, they both winced together. "Oh, I bet that smelled bad," Mac commiserated. "I did that once, out in the field. I thought I was reaching for the glass cleaner, but got the wrong bottle. I nearly suffocated myself before I could get out of there!"

That momentarily startled her, and she gave him a searching gaze. "So, not _everything_ you try works the first time?"

"Awww, no!" he said, surprised at her response. "Sometimes what I whip up isn't strong enough to do the job I need, and I have to readjust my mixture. Sometimes it's _too_ strong, and I destroy what I'm trying to work on. Sometimes parts fail, my timing is off, or I just can't figure out how to cobble what I need with what's in front of me."

"I thought…" she started, then trailed off uncomfortably.

"You thought 'Good Ole Clever MacGyver' always has an answer?" he guessed. "Well, the secret, Abs, is in never giving up. You can't allow yourself to be paralyzed by a momentary setback. There's always an answer… the secret is getting to it before you run out of time."

Her chin came up, and her smile put an adorable twinkle back into her emerald eyes. "Well, then, we'd better get working on this! Gibbs is going to want answers, and you know what kind of time he wants them in!" She grinned wider as Mac slipped the lab coat on, then she reached for a small remote, cued up her sound system, and set the lab rocking as they got to work.

Neither realized how much time had passed as they mixed, blended, melted, heated, and electrified the various chemical possibilities, until Gibbs came down to check on them. "It's been hours," he informed them as he breezed through the door. "What do you have?"

Mac jumped in surprise at the sound of his voice. "Ooooh," he grumbled, stretching out his shoulders. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that, especially when he has ammonium nitrate cooking! If I mix this wrong, we could all get pretty silly on Nitrous Oxide!"

"Laughing gas?" Gibbs asked in confusion.

"I hardly think he's weaponizing dental anesthesia, if that's what you're asking," Mac reassured. "I think he's aiming more for a propellant or a fuel mixture."

"Whatever this is, it's no laughing matter!" Abby informed them.

Gibbs blinked heavily. "Well?"

Mac rolled his head from side to side as he stretched his neck. "Well, we've experimented on a small scale, come up with some ideas and a few sparks and fizzles… What he's going for will definitely make a big 'boom', but he seems to be going about it the hard way." When Gibbs' tilted head and tightened eyes encouraged him to continue, he gestured to the supplies around him. "Even if you want to stay under the radar, there are easier ways to get the chemical compositions. It looks like…" Mac paused for a second to gnaw on his lower lip as his gaze swept over their experiments. "It looks like he's trying to distill the ingredients out of common products." With his lip back between his teeth, he gave a worried shrug. "Or he's making some kind of transportable chemical compound that won't be detectable by scanners, that's easy to assemble into something much uglier at a later time."

"Guesses?" Gibbs demanded. The sound of Abby ripping open another cardboard box to reveal bottles of dish soap made him look up, and he frowned as she giggled.

"Death by Dishpan Hands?" she offered, waving two of the bottles at him. His exasperation wasn't strong enough to curb her amusement as she skipped merrily back to the table.

Mac scraped a powdery white residue from one of the glass dishes under the ventilation hood. "This by itself is incredibly stable. Mix it with gasoline or alcohol…or just get it really hot… and all bets are off." A thought hit him, and he reached for another glass container. "Abs, we used the dish soap for this one here, right?" he asked, holding up the first experiment. When she nodded, he held up the second, tilting the container to emphasize the lack of white powder. "We used the basic chemical composition for this one, then? Not the actual soap itself?" Realization dawned, causing his lips to separate and his gaze to focus inward.

Gibbs took a quick step back. "I know that look!" he said in warning as Abby's concern registered. Reaching forward, he snagged her sleeve and tugged her behind him.

She peered over Gibbs' shoulder. "Yup… I do to. He's either got a brilliant idea, or this place is going up in smoke!"

Mac was mumbling to himself under his breath. "Binder? Naw, the viscosity is wrong. Maybe as a stabilizer…but no, that doesn't make sense. Maybe it's something in the…"

"Mac?" Gibbs demanded. "What?"

Focused entirely on the thought spinning through his mind, Mac reached out towards them without looking. "Got an idea, Gibbs. Abby, hand me another bottle, would you?"

She popped the lid on the bottle before offering it to him. When he touched it, he didn't grip hard enough for a secure hold, sending the bottle right through his fingers. Scrambling for a moment caused the bottle to be compressed, which coated the top with the thick blue insides. When Mac made another attempt to secure it, the bottle squirted away from him and bounced hard against the table's surface.

Flames and smoke erupted from the open containers, with a concussion powerful enough to rattle the bulletproof windows. Thick black billows filled the space, swirling to a ghastly orange color from the emergency lights as the ventilation system kicked in to draw the fumes away. Abby raced to the wall to deactivate the system before the sprinklers turned on and the Fire Department was alerted.

Gibbs coughed, groping through the clearing smoke to find Abby, and after making sure she was fine, he turned to find MacGyver huddled behind the Mass Spectrometer. "You okay?" he demanded. As Mac hacked his own lungs clear, Gibbs's concern gave way to anger. "What was _that_?"

Mac ignored him, scrambling back to the table to assess the damage. "Wow! Impact ignition; didn't think of that! That opens up a whole new…"

A screen flickered to life on Abby's desk, and Ducky's anxious face appeared. "Abigail! Abby, what just happened? Is everyone all right?"

Abby hurried to get in front of the camera. "Ducky, we're fine!" she assured him.

"That was quite the blast; we felt it down here!" His concern tempered slightly as he noticed Gibbs moving into view over Abby's shoulder. "Jethro! What is going on up there!"

MacGyver let out an elated yell, whirling around to share his discovery. "The inactive ingredients in the… Abby?" he interrupted himself, using his thumbs to wipe the soot from the lenses of his safety glasses. Realizing that everyone, including the Medical Examiner on the computer screen, was staring at him, he offered an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, hi…?"

"Explain," Gibbs growled, folding his arms. "The _short_ version," he added to forestall another chemistry lesson.

Mac pondered that for a moment, then held up the melted remains of the offending bottle of dish soap. "Cleanup on Aisle Three?"

* * *

 _Again, this chapter was written more for the entertainment value than from actual knowledge of_ _Chemistry. My apologies to any Chemistry Majors out there who are currently shaking their heads at this. Also, I highly recommend that you Not Try This At Home... It makes the Condo Commandos in any housing complex a little nervous... Just Sayin'..._


	27. Chapter 27: Dangerous Ground

Night had fallen, the building had emptied of most of the agents, and the remaining few huddled over their computers in a daze as MacGyver finally staggered back into the squad room. The lab coat he'd borrowed from Abby was now gray, heavily streaked, and liberally charred with burn marks. "If we keep going, we're gonna make a mistake that _will_ blow the place up," he admitted as Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee looked up at him. Crossing the bull pen to collapse into Bishop's empty chair, Mac leaned backwards and stretched. "I forgot how much energy Abby has," he said with a tired smile. "That girl wore me out!"

Gibbs snorted once, then made a gesture that demanded more information.

"We had a pretty good Special Effects show going on down there. He's got the makings of a pretty dangerous, highly untraceable grade of explosive."

"That's not good," Tony observed.

Mac blinked heavily to shake off his fatigue. "Agreed. But as crazy as that mixture is…" He shrugged. As Gibbs repeated his 'get on with it' gesture, Mac could only spread his hands in confusion. "We're missing something," he condensed.

"You were going on about the white powder?" Gibbs prompted.

For the benefit of Tim and Tony, Mac decided to back up. "Abby and I only used the chemicals she found, in the amounts purchased on the invoices you guys found. We started with the exact products purchased, then branched out a little. When we put together a certain combination, using the dish soap, it left behind a white residue that is stable by itself, but incredibly volatile when mixed with an accelerant…and impact, apparently… Oh, yeah, and Abby's going to need the floor replaced by her centrifuge," he admitted with a wince.

"You destroyed her floor, and you still think you're missing something?" Tony asked.

"The place is still standing, right?" Mac pointed out. "We had exact duplicates of what we learned Salazar's companies bought. Even if we'd have mixed everything all at once, the explosion might have gutted the two lowest floors but it wouldn't have taken this place down. Hence, we're still missing something." He soldiered on over the surprised looks everyone was giving him. "I tried to guess what our missing ingredient was, and think I might have gotten close. Tim, if you'd be so kind, I'd like you to check to see if any of Salazar's companies bought any of these things."

McGee watched expectantly as MacGyver scribbled a short list of products containing the mystery ingredient, and as the list drew to completion, he brought up the proper program on his computer. He paused for a moment as he realized Mac had not yet moved out of Bishop's chair, and when he looked up, he saw the exhausted man in the middle of an intricate fold in an impressive paper airplane. "Sorry, McGee, but I'm too tired to stand," Mac apologized as a quick flick of his wrist sent the plane soaring across the room.

Tim grinned at the unorthodox delivery method as the plane landed on his desk. He unfolded the plane, making a mental note to reverse engineer the craft later on so he could reproduce it, then started tapping away at his computer. "I bet Abby's on Cloud Nine right now, having had you in the lab with her all day."

"Good times," Mac agreed after hiding a yawn. "I remember when I could spend three days straight in the lab, working on a project like this. Pete would have food delivered to me, and if I didn't get around to eating it, he'd come down and force me to take a break himself." He stretched again. "Gotta admit, I'm tired now!"

"Right after a three-day solo job that didn't allow you a break, you headed out for a two-day excursion into the wild," Tony reminded him.

"And didn't get a whole lot of sleep while we were out there, either," Mac agreed. "Bishop wasn't too comfortable, and made sure we knew it." Pushing that thought aside, Mac reached for his laptop and flipped the lid up. "When was the last time you heard from my office?" he asked McGee. "Sometimes Sam forgets to use the public address when we work with other agencies, and he sends information to my secured email."

"Your Assistant Director sent something over just a few minutes ago," McGee replied. "I forwarded what we had to him, and he said he'd have his team take a second look. They found a few more Tax ID numbers for businesses under Salazar's umbrella, but there hasn't been recent activity from any of them."

Mac typed the passwords necessary to access the secured part of his laptop's programs, and brought up his email. Sorting through the normal 'bureaucratic nonsense' generated by the paperwork pushers at the Foundation, he filed them in the 'I'll get to it' folder of his inbox. That left a few messages from an old friend of his, an actress named Penny Parker, who was the celebrity face on a few human-rights issues the Foundation was helping out with. The last message was from Sam, and the subject line read, "Ceiling Tiles." Mac frowned, recognizing their own personal code and translating it to mean 'Heads-Up!' Making sure there wasn't anyone reading over his shoulder, Mac opened the email.

"Please inform Agent DiNozzo that Salazar has no ties to the Middle East, governmental organizations sourced in the Middle East, agents present or past of governmental organizations sourced in the Middle East, or families with surnames of Biblical origin," the short message informed him.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Oh, boy… Thanks for the warning, Sam. I'm too tired to deal with this right now, but I'm glad I knew about DiNozzo's prying in advance. I can't say I'm surprised he's been asking about her. He's a lot more subtle about it than I expected. *sigh*… I wish I could answer his questions. Time to brush up on the poker face…_

Gibbs' phone rang at that moment, and he lifted the receiver. "Abs? You okay?… Yeah, hang on!" Gibbs looked over at MacGyver. "Abby just got another idea, and she wants you to come back down to help her."

Mac squeezed his eyes closed as he apparently waged an inner struggle. "I'm cooked," he finally admitted. "I just don't have anything else to give right now." He tugged off the tattered lab coat, folded it, and held it out for McGee. "Tim, if you still have any energy, I'm calling you as my pinch-hitter."

McGee looked to Gibbs for permission, and when the nod was received, he picked up the lab coat on his way to the elevator. "When was the last time Abby had a Caff-Pow?" McGee asked, pausing as that thought hit him.

"Those Bisphenol-A laden containers of caffeinated food coloring?" Mac queried with a shudder. "I think she finished her last one an hour ago."

"Uh-oh… She's running low!" McGee said in concern as he picked up his pace.

"I'm on it," Gibbs sighed heavily as he pushed himself to his feet. Sparing Mac a glance, he explained, "I'd better check on her too… should make sure she's not melting anything structural down there."

"I'm sorry in advance," Mac called helpfully at his retreating back. Gibbs threw a challenging glance over his shoulder and disappeared behind the silver doors. Muted chuckles echoed from the few remaining agents scattered around the room. 'He hasn't changed much," Mac confided with a grin.

DiNozzo nodded in an echo of Mac's amusement. "Yeah, he's been like that as long as I've known him."

Mac's eye-roll was expressive. "I hate to break it to you, but he has mellowed, just a bit."

Tony grew thoughtful. "Yeah, I can see that, actually." Lost in reverie, Tony's gaze darkened as he stared at Gibbs' empty chair.

"Hey, I've got a question for you," Mac said, leaning back and crossing his arms. "How long has Gibbs known Abby? He's got a real 'Papa Bear' affection for her, doesn't he?"

"He's known her longer than I've been here," Tony agreed. "She is and always will be his favorite."

"He looked really worried about her when our experiment decided to blow up on us," Mac agreed. "You know, when we were out in the woods and Ellie got hurt, Gibbs had a similar look on his face." He paused as he noticed that Tony did not look surprised. "I know Gibbs has a protective streak a mile wide, but what's with this paternal concern?"

Tony seemed lost in memories. "There have been three long-term agents sitting at that desk since I started with NCIS. We lost two of them. We really don't want to lose the third."

"Lost… oh, that doesn't sound good," Mac said with sympathy.

Tony nodded. "Our first was Kate. She was Secret Service before she joined us."

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: My grandfather told me once that if you're looking to catch a specific fish, you need to use the right bait. If the fish won't bite, don't be afraid to change what's on the end of your line. Tony's got a bunch of hooks in the water right now, and he's doing all he can to distract me from them. If I'm not careful, I'll get snagged but good!_

Forcing his tired mind to stay sharp, Mac kept going with the conversation until he could figure out where Tony was headed. "She sounded like a capable agent… And let me guess; Gibbs pulled his 'Papa Bear' routine on her a few times, too."

"Yeah, that protective streak kicked in quite a bit," Tony agreed. "Kate brought that out in all of us. She was killed…"

Mac winced with him. It was never easy to lose a colleague. "I'm sorry." Mac knew it had been over ten years, but the pain in Tony's eyes was still fresh.

"A terrorist was hunting Gibbs, and he killed Kate to hurt Gibbs… I have to say, it worked…"

"It happened right in front of you both, didn't it?" Mac commiserated.

Tony swallowed hard, and Mac could tell he was reliving that horrible day. "We were talking to her. She was getting on to me about something, and suddenly she was… laying at my feet, dead. Gibbs couldn't find the sniper right away… He wasn't himself during the investigation."

Mac had enough of his own nightmares to deepen the sympathy in his voice. "You did find the sniper, though," he hedged. Feeling Tony's penetrating gaze on him, he focused on keeping his both his breathing and the expression of sympathetic curiosity on his face from changing.

"Yeah, we found him. He was taken out, in Gibbs' basement."

 _Voiceover: Oh… well done; you walked right into that one! She told you all about that day. Mac, how could you not see that coming?_

Tony shrugged. "Then we got Ziva." Although nothing in the younger man's face changed, it was obvious Tony didn't get the reaction he wanted. In a conversational tone, still tinged with sadness but growing warmer, he kept talking. "Ziva David was Mossad. She joined the team as a Liaison Officer shortly after, then became a full-fledged NCIS agent."

"That must have been interesting," Mac allowed, struggling to keep his tone even as his mind raced furiously. Deciding that he couldn't play completely ignorant to the woman's existence, he added, "She was with you for seven or eight years, right?"

Tony pounced, eagerness slipping through his carefully crafted facade. "How did you know that?"

Mac forced a smile. "How comfortable would you be, working with someone who knew everything about you while you knew nothing about them?" Trying not to smirk at the sudden confusion that leapt into Tony's startled eyes, Mac continued, "Turn about's fair play, DiNozzo. I know you looked up my file. I looked up all of yours."

Tony processed that for a few long moments, giving Mac a chance to prepare for what might be coming next. It was clear that Tony didn't know whether to believe that entirely or not; Mac could sense his desperation for any information on their mutual acquaintance, but Mac also knew how dangerous sharing that information would be.

"If you found out we'd gotten into your file, I'll have to talk to McGee about covering his tracks better," DiNozzo said with brittle humor.

 _Voiceover: Uh, wait a minute… you'd printed my Ops packets out and put them on a bookshelf! Don't yell at McGee for that breach!_

Tony continued speaking. "But since you brought it up, I'm curious… What got you into this line of work?"

Mac covered his surprise at the change in DiNozzo's tactics. He drew the moment out with a reminiscent sigh. "I think I was born without the ability to keep my nose out of things. It also seems I have a chronic perverseness to saying, 'No'. Especially to my friends. That's why I'm sitting here today, in fact." Meeting DiNozzo's eyes, he recognized genuine interest in the new topic of conversation, and determined to keep it there.

"What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done?" Tony asked, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his desk.

 _Voiceover: Allowed myself to be left alone with a skilled interrogator hungry for information I can't give him?_

Mac blew out a puff of air as his eyebrows climbed upwards. He was thoughtful for several long moments. "Oh, jeez, I dunno…"

"This case must be bringing up a lot of memories for you…"

 _Voiceover: You have no idea, kid! God, eighteen years lost! I still can't forgive myself for that, even though he has…_

"…You've dealt with all kinds of crazy situations; rescuing people behind enemy lines, preventing massacres, dealing with explosives all over the world with the DSX. You know, it's a good thing you're on our side; some of those IED's you built yourself were kinda 'out there'."

Feeling the figurative rumble of an impending explosion buried in this conversation, Mac turned his lips down in displeasure. "Yeah, I've nearly blown myself up more times than I care to contemplate… Today is another sterling example of that!" He gazed for a moment at his hands, rubbing his printless fingertips together.

"Did you learn about explosives in Vietnam? Or did your chemistry background point you in that direction?"

Mac knew his expression didn't change because Tony wasn't shrinking away in worry. For that, he was grateful. _Voiceover: Yeah, she told me he was good. He's pushing buttons I forgot I had. Talking about memories…? Deep breath, now. You don't ever have to go there again; that part of your life is over and done with, never to be repeated. Change the subject. Away from the one he's trying to get at, while we're at it. He can't know… She doesn't want him to know. I don't agree with it, but I have to respect her wishes. I just hope he finds out…before I did. And not the way I did, either… Okay, okay, get yourself together now. C'mon, MacGyver, get it together._

Forcing a smile he was nowhere near feeling, Mac attempted a cavalier wave. "Knowing as much as I do about chemistry and physics has been both a blessing and a curse. It's gotten me into a lot of trouble, but out of it enough times that I'm still kicking around."

Tony's sudden grin threw Mac off. "It can't be all bad; you've helped a lot of people. That's gotta mean something!"

"Oh, it does, for sure!" Mac insisted. "I usually end up helping the people that are really in trouble, and getting them out of it requires more… inventive measures, shall we say?"

The conspiratorial grin on the younger man's face sent prickles of concern crawling up Mac's spine. "Leaving the boring 'easy saves' for the others…so you get all the fun!"

Mac actually laughed. "That's one way of looking at it, I guess!" He sobered as he looked at the information that was still displayed on the plasma screens. "I just wish this was a little easier of a save. I really want to find the guy that shot Andy. I didn't know the kid personally, but my friend adopted him, so that makes him pretty close to family in my book. Andy's got a long recovery ahead of him, but it might make it just a bit easier knowing the guy who shot him is behind bars."

"We'll get him," Tony assured him. "We always find what we're looking for…"

The extra meaning that flashed briefly in Tony's eyes changed to friendly curiosity as Gibbs' return changed the atmosphere in the bullpen. "Abby is properly caffeinated, so all is right with the universe?" Tony confirmed.

Gibbs settled back into his chair. "They're both still alive down there," he shrugged. "She wasn't really happy that you benched yourself, though," he informed MacGyver.

Mac scrubbed a hand over his tired eyes. "If I'm going to be of any use to anyone tomorrow, I'd best get some real sleep tonight. Since you're my ride back, are you ready to go?"

Gibbs debated for a few moments, then nodded. "DiNozzo, you go home too."

"Good night, Tony," Mac offered as he gathered his stuff.

Tony returned a friendly nod and a loaded smile. "Pleasant dreams."

 _Voiceover: Not likely…_


	28. Chapter 28: Mother of All Nightmares

_Note: So, I have to admit, I feel badly for both Tony and Mac. They're both caught on opposite ends of this impossible situation. (Because it feels like forever since I posted the chapter where everyone gets patched up at the hospital, I'm just going to mention that the first question that haunts Mac here came from the doctor... and the irony is, Mac had no way of knowing Tony had overheard that, further piquing his curiosity...)_

* * *

MacGyver rested his head carefully on the extra-firm pillow, avoiding the sore spot where Bishop had clunked him with her cast. A long, deep breath helped to relax his muscles, and he could feel himself start to wind down. As he usually did when preparing for sleep, he pictured himself in a peaceful setting. The forest he'd just visited came to mind. As he replayed the sounds of the breeze rustling the leaves, he could almost hear the bird song. One particular bird was flying closer, its voice growing louder as his dream grew deeper…

 _The bird's song changed from melodic singing to warning cries, ending up with a loud scream that sounded like his name. He tried to reach for the bird, but branches pulled at him, and a disproving voice at his elbow asked, "Is there something that you don't want us to find?" The bird again cried his name, her accent exotic and thicker with urgency. "Is there something that you don't want us to find?" the voice at his side asked again, and Ducky's voice filtered in to remind him, "Don't lie to Gibbs. Whatever you're holding back from him, you'd better have a very good reason." The forest he was in suddenly smelled hot, like sand and kerosene. He couldn't find the bird; she was lost in the swirling grit. He had to get her home, had to get her back to the nest… "Is there something that you don't want us to find?" the echo came again over the beat of rotor blades. "What is it you're not telling me, Mac?" Gibbs threw in, his voice dark with disapproval. He could hear it; the burst, the whistle, the wail of the little one left behind, and he couldn't let that happen. Feathers filled his fingers as he twisted to avoid what he knew was coming, but it hit him anyway. The dove called to him again from far away, calling to bring him back, her dark eyes pleading, "You cannot leave me now! There is still too much to do!" Fire burned across his belly, pushing him to his knees as the world went red. Sand and copper filled his mouth, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't… "What next? MacGyver, you must stay with me! What do I do next?" the dove demanded, pressing her wings down on him until he had to cry out. DiNozzo shook his head at him as he said, "We got Ziva… We lost two of them…" He wouldn't lose them, not this time! The cry of the dove and the roar of an explosion filled his ears, drowning out the other voices as the shockwave hit him…_

MacGyver jerked awake, gasping for breath as his heart thudded rapidly in his chest. He scrubbed the back of his wrist over his forehead, surprised at how much moisture collected to drip down his arm. As his head dropped back into the pillow, he tried to pull in a deep breath, but it seemed to catch in his throat. He swallowed hard, tasting the grit of desert sand in the back of his throat and the coppery tang from biting his tongue until it bled.

"Easy, Mac, it's just a nightmare," he told himself. "It's over. It's all over." Even as he told himself that, he was amazed he could lie so blatantly to himself and almost believe it.

* * *

"You look like you need a cup of coffee," Gibbs mentioned as Mac stumbled into the kitchen the next morning.

"I've never been so tempted to have one," Mac admitted wearily. He waved away Gibbs' unspoken offer to pour him a slug from the pot sitting beside him on the table. "No, I'll stick with my orange juice and oatmeal, thank you."

"Rough night?"

Mac rolled a glance over to him, noting that the coffee pot was nearly empty and Gibbs had the mug resting against his left eyebrow as he hunched over the table. "You too?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Happens."

"With as many memories as we have? Yeah, you can say that again."

Gibbs' expression said that while he wasn't going to ask, Mac was more than welcomed to share.

"You first," Mac retorted.

A long, slow pull on the coffee mug pretty much indicated _that_ wasn't going to happen.

"You know, there've been a couple of times I'd gotten hit so hard that I'd lost my memory," Mac mentioned, microwaving the oatmeal he took out of the refrigerator.

"Been there," Gibbs contributed. He waited until Mac had pulled up a chair before sliding a glance at him.

Mac stirred honey into the gloppy mess in his bowl. "There are times I don't think I'd mind that as much as I used to."

A wry snort and a short, "Yup!" were his only answers.

* * *

 _Note: If anyone knows anything about nightmares, it'd be Gibbs, right?_


	29. Chapter 29: Disaster in the Field

_Note: Brace yourselves, Friends..._

 _(For all of you who felt I was a little rough on Ellie out in the woods, I hope this makes up for it, just a teensy little bit...?)_

* * *

When Gibbs and Mac arrived at the office, the bullpen was empty. Mac once again claimed Bishop's chair and leaned back with a tired sigh. "Did we beat the kids in this morning?" he asked, watching his old friend lean over his own desk and bang on the keyboard.

Gibbs shook his head. "I think they're on a coffee run; I've got emails timestamped just a few minutes ago."

Mac reached for his laptop and pried it open. Keying in the dizzying array of passwords necessary to bring it to life, he checked his own email. "Yeah, they copied me in on everything." He read through a few messages from his own office, and wasn't quite sure what to think at the lack of 'Ceiling Tiles' messages from Sam; had DiNozzo given up that easily, or was he rethinking his bait?

DiNozzo returned at that moment, bearing a cardboard tray loaded with coffee cups. "Good morning," he greeted pleasantly, putting one of the cups on McGee's desk, then swiveling to put another next to Gibbs' computer. Acknowledging the nod of thanks from his Boss, DiNozzo dropped another cup on the corner of the desk before MacGyver before handing him a different one that sported a string and paper tab dangling from beneath the plastic lid. The last cup was for Tony himself, which he blew on to cool the temperature as he sent the empty tray tumbling into the garbage can.

MacGyver inhaled the earthy scent of the tea he'd been given, but cast a curious look at the other cup on the desk before him. "Did I look thirsty?" he queried.

DiNozzo chuckled once. "That one's not yours."

MacGyver was about to ask for clarification when his attention was caught by McGee's return to the bullpen. He was balancing two laptops in his hands, and Mac moved the coffee cup for him when one of the laptops ended up on the desk before him. "Good morning," Mac greeted the younger man.

"Good morning," someone else replied from behind him. Mac turned in surprise when he recognized Ellie's voice. "You're in my chair," she teased him before he could speak.

"What're you doin' here?" Gibbs demanded, striding forward while motioning for Mac to stay seated. "Go home! Rest up!"

Raising her hand, which sported a thin splint on her injured wrist, Ellie showed off a rumpled piece of paper. "I was cleared to return to work this morning," she announced as Gibbs read the doctor's note and fixed her with a withering glare.

"Ellie, I don't think this is a good idea," MacGyver couldn't help saying as he helped her into her chair.

"You did such a good job fixing my cut that it's already closed and healing," she said, tilting her head to show him. "And my wrist is sore, but since there's no real damage done to it, I just need to keep the splint on it and I'm fine." She gave everyone a convincing smile, her gaze ending on MacGyver as her cheeks colored slightly with embarrassment. "Look, this guy's crew led us on a wild goose chase into the woods, and I feel like I let you guys down." She waved off Mac's instant protest. "No, even though we got our information too late to catch the guy we were chasing, I still slowed you down. I didn't know what to look for, and I ended up getting us in trouble. I'm back in an environment I understand, so I'm going to do my job and find this guy!"

The corners of Mac's eyes crinkled adorably with his proud smile. "Awww, we threw you in the deep end out there, but you held up better than most would have. Right, Gibbs?"

McGee interrupted before Gibbs could answer. "Boss, Salazar just made a call! I've been tracking his cell phone; he's had it off for the last fifteen hours, but he just turned it on."

"Location?" Gibbs barked.

"Right where we figured he'd be," McGee said, pointing to the screen beside him.

"Grab your gear!"

The team had parked the cars out of sight and hustled into position. A handful of guys were moving heavy pallets around, two of which were loaded with metal barrels. As the fork truck swiveled to pick up another load, its operator noticed the approaching Federal Agents and raised the alarm. Abandoning the equipment, the whole group fled.

"Gibbs, I saw Salazar! He ran into that warehouse over there," MacGyver pointed out, panting a little from the run. "What's the plan?"

"We go in and get him," Gibbs retorted, signaling his team. "Stay out here!"

"Not happening," Mac informed him.

Gibbs glared at him, but gave in. "You're not armed… stay behind me." He ignored Mac's 'yeah, we'll see' grin as he directed Bishop and McGee to take the left entrance and Tony to watch the middle. Returning his attention to his old friend, Gibbs shot him a look that demanded compliance before he led Mac towards the right entrance. Everyone took their positions, and at Gibbs' next signal, the doors were kicked in and the agents swarmed.

"Federal Agents; Freeze!" DiNozzo bellowed, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. Their suspect had buddies inside with him, and they were starting to scatter like the cockroaches they were. Tony cornered two of them, herding them back towards the main group. He heard gunshots, and his focus tightened as he realized they weren't from his team's Sig's.

MacGyver ducked as a piece of machinery in front of him exploded into a hail of sparks. His foot slipped on some spilled motor oil, and he allowed gravity to pull him out of the way of the next hail of bullets that rained down on him. He felt something hot next to his head, and the stink of various chemicals stung his nose. A fire had started in one of the plastic recycling bins that he and Gibbs were hiding behind. Fifty years of experience diffusing bombs around the world and a whole afternoon spent in Abby's lab told him that he was in the worst possible place to be hiding and that he had to move fast. He risked a look over the top, got a read on where the gunmen were hiding, then caught Gibbs in a flying tackle that propelled him a good ten feet out of the way.

"What the…?" Gibbs grunted in fury as they crashed into the far wall amidst another flurry of gunshots.

Mac was still pushing to get him behind an abandoned truck in the corner. "Figured out what Abs and I were missing, and it's bad! Didn't want us getting caught in the…"

 _BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!_

The plastic bins exploded, spewing molten liquids around the immediate vicinity. Two of the gunmen went down screaming, while the rest scurried further away. McGee was able to knock one of the gunmen down and cuff him.

One foolhardy soul tried to race through the opening where Gibbs had been, and the Special Agent scrambled back to his feet and gave chase. Another waited until Gibbs' back was turned to come out of hiding and aim his gun, but Mac bounced to his feet and grabbed a coil of extension cord that hung from a nearby pole. Swinging the loop like a rodeo star, Mac dropped it right over the guy's head. Using the gunman's momentary pause to advantage, Mac looped the other coils around him and pulled tight, sweeping the guy's legs out from underneath of him and quickly dallying his feet up behind his back.

Another round of gunfire had Mac diving back behind the truck. A shaft of sunlight streamed through the broken skylight above him, and Mac darted a glance around to see what was available for him to use. The review mirror caught his attention, and he grinned as he ripped it loose. Angling the mirror so it caught sun's rays, he found one of the suspects crouching in a puddle of liquid and danced the beam across the man's eyes to blind him. As the gunman yelled and clawed at his eyes, his shot went wide and missed DiNozzo by a mile. Mac turned the beam on the puddle, hoping the sunlight was focused enough to ignite it.

It was only seconds later before the blinded gunman was screaming and thrashing on the floor, his pants ablaze. Bishop was close by with a blanket she'd found, and she threw it over the suspect to extinguish the fire before planting her knees into the man's shoulder blades and reaching for his hands to cuff him.

"Clear on this side!" DiNozzo yelled from the front of the building.

"Clear on this side!" McGee reported from the left entrance.

"I hear something!" Bishop hollered, leaving her cuffed suspect on the floor as she scrambled back behind cover.

The Cougar himself launched into a run, aiming for the sliver of open space between Gibbs and the right entrance. Gibbs was already moving to intercept, but he was too far away.

MacGyver knew if they were going to stop him, he'd have to do something. He wrenched the steering wheel loose and threw it like a Frisbee, catching the Cougar across the back of his knees and making him stumble. Fresh out of ammunition, MacGyver gave chase, leaping lightly out of his hiding spot and landing in a run. He shoulder-checked their suspect, spinning him off balance, but Mac miscalculated his angle and sent himself hurtling towards the post nearby. He recovered and spun, just in time to catch the Cougar's right fist in his stomach. The force of the punch not only doubled him over, but sent him flying backwards a few feet to land on a pile of loose tools.

Tony and Gibbs reached the Cougar at the same moment, and Tony's left hook brought their suspect to the ground in a heap. Gibbs had the handcuffs on in seconds, and the team allowed themselves a moment to breathe.

"Good move with the mirror, there, MacGyver!" McGee commended, looking around for him.

"I've never seen anything like that done with an extension cord either!" Bishop praised, joining the search.

"Where is he?" Tony demanded.

Gibbs pointed to the pile where Mac had ended up, breaking into a jog to get there.

Mac had one elbow braced on the floor and his other arm wrapped across his belly as he alternately retched, gasped for air, and groaned. Agony had flooded him, graying out his skin and bringing a thick sheen of moisture to his face. His forehead was bruised and bleeding, rubbing against the debris on the floor as he brought his knees up underneath him into a fetal position.

"Mac!" Gibbs shouted, reaching him and throwing out a hand to keep him from crashing to his side. "McGee, call an ambulance!"

"I've gotten punched in the gut before, but this is something else," Tony exclaimed, sympathy pains cramping his own gut as he helped Gibbs pull MacGyver free of the sharp tools.

"They're on their way, Boss!" McGee reported, and in seconds they could hear the sirens. He darted outside to flag down the EMT's and lead them to their patient.

Even after they'd loaded him on the stretcher, MacGyver was still trying to curl into a ball around his injured midsection. He looked like he was about to pass out, except he hurt to much to do so. He had the strength to attempt to bat away the oxygen mask one of the EMT's tried to put over his nose and mouth, but Gibbs caught his hand and held it. "Easy, buddy; they're just trying to help," Gibbs said, hurrying alongside the stretcher as it was pushed towards the ambulance. "Tony, take charge here; call for back up and get these dirt bags to Interrogation!" he called over his shoulder. "Call Ducky; have him meet us at the hospital!"

Mac heard all the shouting through the haze of red-hot pain engulfing him. "The… chemicals… Gibbs…" he tried to gasp.

"Shaddup, Mac; you're pretty messed up," Gibbs ordered, worry creasing his forehead.

"Gibbs… the b…bins… Get the team… outta there…" He broke off as Gibbs shouted another order to his team. He tried to pull in another breath, but the muscles of his abdomen weren't behaving properly, and darkness washed over him.

Gibbs turned back in time to see MacGyver go limp, and concern flared though him. "Is he…?"

The EMT dove to check his vitals. "Sir... I think he..."

At the seriousness in the young tech's gaze, Gibbs gripped the stretcher hard enough to crimp the metal.


	30. Chapter 30:That Horrible Phone Call

_Sorry, my friends! I hadn't originally intended to leave it there, but this second half of the original segment had a huge hole in it that needed plugging... Oh, ouch, I just realized the irony of that statement! Now we find out exactly what caused Mac's nightmares._

* * *

Gibbs's blue eyes burned into the young tech's. _"You think he's what?"_

The young man pushed the Special Agent back, his eyes widening as he saw the finger marks on the stretcher. "He passed out, sir. The OR is already expecting us. I think he has internal bleeding."

If Gibbs could have pushed the ambulance there faster, he would have. He stared at his friend's unconscious but still agonized face for the short trip to the hospital, and when they finally arrived, he made sure to stay out of the way while they unloaded the stretcher and hustled it though the Emergency Room doors.

Ducky showed up moments later, puffing from his jog through the parking lot. "What do we know, Jethro?"

Gibbs gave a sharp shake of his head in lieu of an answer, continuing to pace the small waiting room off to the side. Ducky gave him an encouraging pat on the arm before hurrying off to find a medical professional to talk to. While he was gone, Gibbs pulled out both his phone and the Medical Identification card he'd gotten out of Mac's pocket in the ambulance. He dialed the number on the card, and waited while it rang.

"Sam Malloy; how can I help you?" a voice greeted as the line connected.

"Gibbs… NCIS," Gibbs returned.

"Gibbs! Nice of you to call! I've heard a lot about you."

Despite the situation, Gibbs found himself intrigued. "You have?"

"Oh, sure! He tells the story of your adventure in South America all the time. Especially when he's talked to those kids you guys brought back. He calls them every once in a while and touches base."

Gibbs felt a stab of guilt; he knew how the kids… college students, now… were doing, but he hadn't reached out to them in a while.

"So, what brings you to call?" Sam asked, breaking into his thoughts. "Anything I can help you with?"

Gibbs ground his teeth, hating that he had to make this call. "Mac's been taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital…"

"Aww, _maaaaannn_!" the Assistant Director groaned loudly. "What did he do to himself _this_ time?"

Realizing that working closely with MacGyver would make a call of this nature fairly routine, Gibbs shrugged off his initial surprise at the lack of worry in the other man's tone. However, hearing one of Mac's catch phrases spoken in a voice that sounded just like his was a little weird. Moving past that, Gibbs answered the question. "Survived a fire-fight and an explosion, only to catch a blunt-force in the gut that landed him in the hospital."

"Ugh... Sounds like yet another adventure. Can I talk to him?"

Gibbs felt a moment of disbelief, but again had to realize that for the Assistant Director, hearing about experimental IEDs, gun battles, and an ambulance ride to the hospital sounded like just another day at the office. "Nope, he's in surgery right now..."

There was a moment of dead silence, then a sharp intake of breath that now contained fear. "Oh, God; you dialed in on the number from his Medical card! Gibbs, what happened? Is Dad… Is _the Director_ all right?" He cleared his throat, getting himself under control. "Gibbs, what's going on?"

"Dunno yet… wait, ' _Dad_ '?" Gibbs demanded in surprise.

" _Director_ MacGyver," Sam clarified, sounding testy over his initial fear.

Gibbs could hear scrambling going on over the phone line. "MacGyver is your _father_? When did _that_ happen?"

"Around 1974, only he didn't find out about it for eighteen years," Sam spat out. "I've got a flight; I leave for the airport in five minutes."

"How did you get a flight that fast?"

"It's a Phoenix jet, and I'm licensed to fly it." There was more scuffling over the phone. "The flight plan I just filed should get me there in… just under 5 hours. What do you know?"

Gibbs gave him all the details he could, and promised to keep Sam updated with any information that came up. Sam gave him a number to reach him at during his flight, and hung up as he was racing out of the office.

It felt like he had waited a century, but it was probably only sixty minutes later when Gibbs' phone rang again. He flipped it to his ear, ignoring the frowns from the staff working around the room.

It was Tony. "How is he?" was DiNozzo's first question.

"Still in surgery. Whaddya got?"

"We kept everyone separated, and we got the underlings to roll on Salazar. We have a full account of the Cougar shooting Andy Schwimmer, as well as a new insight into the world of arms dealing. Bishop is going to take a crack at Salazar herself to see if we can get a confession."

"The chemicals in the warehouse?" Gibbs prompted, remembering Mac's last gasped words.

"We all could have been nothing more than sticky messes had MacGyver not warned us, Boss. They were cooking some sort of nasty explosives in those recycling bins. Two of them blew up, but there were five others that were already fitted with a timer and fuse. Those guys were going more for show than finesse, so the IED's were on the touchy side. One wrong move, and… Let's just say, we sure appreciated the heads-up."

"I'll let him know. Good work..."

"On the subject of 'heads-up'," Tony continued before Gibbs might have hung up, "Boss… Abby's not taking this well. When she found out MacGyver was rushed to the hospital, it was all we could do to stop her from racing over there. The only thing keeping her in the Lab is the thought that she can nail the guys who hurt him."

Gibbs rubbed his thumb against his forehead. "Keep her occupied," he agreed. "She's not the only one wanting to rush to his side." In answer to Tony's unspoken curiosity, Gibbs replied, "Sam Malloy is MacGyver's _son_. He's on his way here now."

Tony sounded genuinely surprised. "You didn't know?"

That caused Gibbs to scowl at the phone. "You _did_?"

He could practically see Tony shrugging over the phone line. "I overheard MacGyver on the phone with his Assistant Director. Sorry, Boss; I thought you knew!"

Hearing something in Tony's voice that he couldn't place, Gibbs ground his teeth and demanded, "Anything _else_ I should be aware of?"

There was an uneasy silence. "Boss, Bishop's gonna take on Salazar in Interrogation, and I've _got_ to see this! Give Mac our best, and keep us updated," Tony rushed before the line went dead.

Nearly an hour later, Ducky nudged Gibbs out of a meditative stare. "Jethro!"

The surgeon emerged from behind the Operating Room doors. "He's going to be all right," she reported. She waited for Gibbs and Ducky to absorb that fact and express their relief before she continued. "I've never seen anything like it, though. He did have internal bleeding, which we found and repaired. We managed to get the bullet out at the same time. I'm pretty sure he hasn't cracked any ribs, but I honestly will have to have someone from Radiology look at the X-rays… they're like nothing I've ever seen before…."

" _Bullet?_ " Gibbs barked, jerking to his feet. "Mac wasn't shot…?"

The surgeon put up a hand to calm him down. "Not today, but this particular bullet has been in there anywhere from two to five years, judging from the shape of it. I'm surprised he survived the initial injury, to be honest; he had excellent care the instant he was hit, but the methods were unconventional to say the least. I'm curious where he was treated and by whom; it was expertly done, but has all the earmarks of being done in a field hospital… or someplace a lot more primitive."

"Why do you say that?" Ducky asked.

"Because they actually used the bullet to cauterize the area. It wasn't the greatest permanent solution, but it kept him alive until now. It was being struck in the abdomen today that caused that area to bleed. Since we had better equipment here in our OR than wherever he was treated, we were able to repair the original injury and remove the 'temporary patch' of a bullet."

"Mac did say he'd been busy…" Gibbs huffed.

"May I see the X-Rays?" Ducky asked. To forestall the inevitable 'HIPPA Hesitation', Ducky tugged out his ID and passed it to her. "For the purposes of this Federal Investigation, I currently serve as MacGyver's Primary Medical Contact." The surgeon hesitated just long enough for her gaze to rest on Gibbs' badge before she gestured for them to follow her back into the room.

Ducky examined the films, amazement washing over his expression. "What _exactly_ does our friend do, Jethro?" he asked under his breath.

Gibbs frowned, lowering his voice to a whisper also. "Works Field Ops for the Phoenix Foundation. He does what needs to be done."

Ducky answered Gibbs' unspoken 'why do you ask?' as he gestured back to the film and answered in a more normal volume. "His ribs have been repeatedly reduced to putty! Look at all this cracking and regeneration! I'd say he's had these here broken at least a full score of times, these over here at least a dozen, and I see multiple bullet gouges throughout…" He was silent for a moment as he ran a finger over the film. "…fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… Unbelievable!" His finger hovered over obvious damage to Mac's right collar bone and shoulder. "He was lucky he didn't lose his arm when he received this one!" He kept going, shaking his head as he continued his examination. "These marks here look like knife wounds; see how the bones here…here… here, and here… have been nicked?"

The surgeon was staring at him in consternation. "How can you tell that?"

Ducky gave her a sad smile, gesturing to his leather wallet that she still held in her hands. "My dear, I am quite adept at reading X-rays."

The surgeon frowned, taking a closer look at Ducky's IDs. "My patient's most current 'primary medical contact' is a _Medical Examiner_? That would explain a _lot_ , actually... And this Foundation our patient works for… He 'does what needs to be done'? What does _that_ mean?" she demanded, her gaze landing on Gibbs for an explanation.

"His branch of the Foundation does what the government can't," Gibbs said, and when both the surgeon and Ducky demanded further information, Gibbs sighed. "He jumped into a jungle to save me'n six orphans from a drug cartel."

"So he's one of the 'Good Guys', then?" the surgeon said in relieved surprise.

"The _best_ ," Gibbs clarified shortly. "Can we see him?"

"He's still sleeping, but I'll bend the rules and let you into PACU. You can go with him when he's transferred to his own room."

"Pack-you?" Gibbs whispered to Ducky as they followed the doctor down the hallway.

"Post Anesthesia Care Unit… formerly known as Recovery," Ducky smiled. "Usually off limits to visitors."

The room was dim when they walked in, and the air was filled with muted beeping. Mac's nasal cannula was draped around the large bandage on his forehead. A maze of IV tubes sprouted from the backs of both hands, and thick bandages bulged under his paisley surgical gown.

"He looks much better," Gibbs said in relief.

The surgeon couldn't help a chuckle. "I don't usually hear that at this stage of the game," she admitted. "Most people see the equipment and freak out a little."

Gibbs flashed back to Mac's agonized features and gray skin, and a shudder went through him. "Thanks, Doc."

"We'll be in when he comes around," she said. "Pull up a chair; it'll be a while."

About a half an hour later, the rhythm of the beeping started to change, and Mac's head moved against the pillow. A low groan escaped him as he tried to lift his hand but was prevented by all the tubes. He tried to take a deep breath, but stopped when it became uncomfortable.

"Easy, there, Mac," Gibbs said in a low voice.

MacGyver calmed, and the beeping sounds evened out. "…Gibbs…?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Right here, Mac."

The faint stirrings of a smile gathered on the corners of his lips. "…okay…?"

"You're gonna be just fine."

Mac's head drifted sideways a hair as his brows lowered. "No…you…"

Gibbs couldn't help a fond chuckle. "You're the one rushed to emergency surgery, and you're asking how _I'm_ doing?" At Mac's incremental nod, Gibbs smiled. "The whole team's just fine, thanks to your warning about those bins."

"Ahhh… good…" Mac rested for a few long moments, but he managed to wake up when the nurse walked into the room to check on him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, scanning his forehead to get his temperature.

"I've had better days," he admitted with a disarming grin.

She returned the grin. "I'll bet. But right now; are you feeling any pain?"

He seemed to be drifting in and out. "Naw… just hungry."

Gibbs couldn't help rolling his eyes. "You were starving to death when we first found you."

"Veggie sub…" Mac murmured with a faint smile. When Ducky asked for clarification, his smile grew a bit stronger. "McGee…"

Gibbs remembered the moment their 'suspect' had become their witness; MacGyver had asked Gibbs to thank his agents for picking up a sub sandwich for him, thereby saving his life. "You're not gonna be ready for a sub...or squirrel stew... any time soon, Mac. I think you're stuck with clear broth for a while."

Mac's nose wrinkled, making everyone laugh.

"You stay quiet for now," the nurse ordered. "When you're settled in your own room, we'll bring you something to drink. There's a button right here; if you start feeling pain, push it, and we'll be right in."

Mac raised his hand and managed to snag the sleeve of her white coat. She paused and looked at him, and his fingers slid down to end up grasping her hand with gratitude. "Please thank everyone for their hard work."

The nurse was obviously charmed. She blushed pink, and adorable dimples showed on her cheeks. "You wouldn't believe how rarely we hear that. You just made our day!"

Mac let go of her hand and she patted his shoulder before heading out of the room.

"Still a smoothie," Gibbs ribbed him, shaking his head in mock disgust.

"On behalf of the medical community, I appreciate his sentiments," Ducky protested good-naturedly. "None of my patients show this much gratitude…" When the others caught on to his joke, his bland expression warmed into a wide grin. "But truly, good manners are always appreciated."

Mac was once again fading towards sleep, but he managed a half-shrug. "Trying to sweet talk her out of the 'clear broth' idea…" he mumbled, bringing everyone again to laughter.

* * *

 _On one of my binge-watching days, I tried to tally up how many times Mac got beat up in the line of duty... and I lost count pretty quickly. Poor guy..._


	31. Chapter 31: Taking Down a Hero

Abby stared at the screen, surprised at what she saw. The bullet the surgeon had fished out of MacGyver's gut was... Well, it wasn't supposed to be possible. First, the composition of the bullet itself was unlike anything she'd ever seen. Secondly, it was a really big slug... She didn't know how it was possible for him to survive getting shot with one of those. For something that size to hit him and not kill him, and for it to be in the shape that it was, meant that it had to have been fired from a considerable distance, or from a weapon not designed for this particular ammo. Thirdly, the bullet itself also looked like it had survived a lightning storm; it was scored all over with electricity, and since Abby was an expert, she could tell that the bullet had already been embedded in MacGyver's body when this scoring happened…

She hugged her arms tightly around herself as she tried to imagine how that had happened. The thought of someone she revered as much as MacGyver experiencing something so traumatic made her a little queasy. She hated when people close to her got hurt. She remembered how groggy he was when she'd finally managed to slip away from her Lab to visit him. He'd woken up as she'd arranged the bouquet of flowers she'd made for him, and the smile he'd flashed her made her heart sing. He'd done his best to reassure her that he was going to be fine, and knowing that her beloved mentor seemed to have more lives than a box of cats, she'd believed him…until Gibbs had slipped the evidence jar into her hand as he hugged her, and his whispered orders had been for her to find out as much as she could about this before anyone realized it was gone. When she'd glanced at the jar as Gibbs pushed her gently from the room, the sheer size of the bullet had nearly paralyzed her.

Abby rubbed her hands briskly up her arms as she continued to hug herself. "Time to do a little more digging," she resolved, resorting to some of her Dark Web contacts to get more information about the bullet. Apparently, there was a rumor that surfaced two or three years ago of a new kind of ammo being made in the Middle East that matched the description of the thing in her specimen jar, but no one had confirmed its actual existence.

Wondering how on Earth MacGyver would have gotten one of these lodged in his gut, Abby searched her information at hand for more on the man himself. If she hadn't been keeping close tabs on her team since the case started, she would have had a hard time reconciling the adventurous mentor she'd met while in school with the well-traveled daredevil he'd turned out to be. She found a reference in one of McGee's emails about the binders of mission files they'd printed on this mystery man, so she followed his lead and burrowed into the Phoenix Foundation's system to see for herself. She cross referenced the Middle Eastern connection and the rumors of the ammo, and waited in disbelief as the fastest computer in her lab actually took a few minutes to process the information. When a likely mission file finally did come up, the file itself was encrypted with some of the most powerful code Abby had ever seen. The vague and redacted synopsis only created more questions than it answered. It was an interesting read in and of itself, but there were a lot of holes in the story, judging by the evidence staring at her from the jar on her table.

"The electrical scoring on the slug is the only thing that makes sense!" Abby announced to the empty room. "I need to access the encrypted part; I need to find out what else is there!" She picked up the evidence jar and squinted at the contents as she sent her mind spinning to find questions to answer. "What was so important that the Director of the Phoenix Foundation insisted on being sent in alone on this mission? Why not someone else? He has to have agents that are as competent as he is, and they have to be younger and in better condition than he is… although he did keep himself in great shape for the age he is…" She read the file again, and a cold shiver danced down her spine. "And who is this mystery 'former agent'? She sounds a little familiar."

"You think so?" Tony asked from the doorway.

She turned, planting her feet and resting her fists on her hips. "Yes, I do! And judging by that look on your face, you do too."

Tony had to nod as he tried to avoid looking guilty. "Yeah, you got me." He pushed himself away from the doorjamb he had been leaning against. "So, if I'm not the only one thinking it, what do we do next?"

"I need to get McGee down here and we'll tackle this code together. I want to find out…" She paused as she read Tony's sudden frown. "You don't like that idea?"

"I want to see what kind of story I can get out of MacGyver first, before I get McGee involved," he admitted. "And I really don't want Gibbs getting wind of this."

She nodded. "Good point. I agree." She watched him for a second as he stared at the bullet in the jar that sat on her desk. "What are you thinking?"

Rare vulnerability showed on his face as he looked down. "I miss my friend."

She threw her arms around him and crushed him with a hug. "I do too!"

"If it really was Ziva that MacGyver worked with, then he's seen her more recently than any of us. He knows how she's doing right now, and he hasn't chosen to share that information with us. According to his mission files, it's classified at the highest levels, so it could be that he'd love to tell us, but can't. But if it is Ziva and he's not telling us… It's hard not to be frustrated at that."

She watched his face for a moment. "What are you going to do?"

"Mac's gonna be in the hospital for another day or two. I think I'm going to go talk to him." He grinned, but it didn't look particularly happy. "If he's stuck in a hospital bed, he'll have a hard time evading me. Besides, he's so medicated right now, he might not know what he's saying."

Abby looked back at her computer screens. "Tony, I…I don't know how I feel about this," she admitted. His silence was uncharacteristic, so she soldiered on. "On one hand, I desperately wanted to know about our friend. On the other, I still…" She broke off as an embarrassed flush pinked her cheeks.

"What is it, Abs?" Tony asked, stepping closer and encouraging her to look up at him.

"MacGyver was the first person to believe in me, to show me that I could achieve my life-long dream of becoming a Forensic Scientist. He's one of my heroes, and now we're talking about him like he's just another suspect that we need to break." She expected Tony to interrupt her, but he didn't. "I need to to know how Ziva is as badly as you do, Tony… But I don't want to take down one of my heroes to do it."


	32. Chapter 32: Life Is Funny Sometimes

Mac winced as the hospital's Shift Change happened, and the bevy of doctors and nurses descended upon him yet again. Gibbs and Ducky were hanging back to let the professionals check his vitals, give report to the incoming Night Shift, and discuss care plans. Mac found himself distracted from his own discomfort as he watched Gibbs' face; Gibbs was probably the only other person he knew who'd spent comparable time in hospitals over the course of his life. His old buddy was playing with one of the black duct tape roses Abby had brought over, looking as uneasy as MacGyver himself was feeling at all of the poking and prodding Mac had to endure. Finally, the doctors and nurses filed out, leaving MacGyver alone with his friends.

Gibbs pulled up a chair and dropped into it. "How're ya feeling?"

Mac made a face. "They offered me clear broth."

"Did you drink it?" Ducky asked, pulling his own chair over. "You need to keep your strength up, my friend!"

"Only because I was hungry," Mac groused. "You guys eat anything?"

While Gibbs shook his head, it was Ducky's turn to wrinkle his nose. "We did find something that they claim is tea, but was primarily dust in a little baggie."

Gibbs checked his watch. "You up for another visitor?"

 _Voiceover: Not really, no, if you want me to be honest…_ Mac blinked a few times. "Abby again, or the rest of the team this time?"

Shaking his head once, Gibbs crossed his arms. "Your Assistant Director?"

"Sam?" Mac said quickly. "How did he…? Oh, he's my Emergency Contact. Thanks for calling him."

"And he's probably landing now."

Mac had to smile. "He'll take any excuse to fly the Mustang…"

Gibbs shrugged. "Sounded plenty worried about you. Called you… _Dad_ …?"

"Yeah, he's been known to do that on rare occasions… Makes board meetings a little more interesting."

"When I met you, I didn't know you had a kid."

"When I met you, I didn't either. Life is funny sometimes."

There were voices outside the room, and MacGyver watched as Gibbs stepped towards the door to check on the situation. He wasn't the only one who saw Gibbs' eyebrows shoot upwards.

"Jethro? Is everything all right?" Ducky had to ask.

Gibbs waved to the nurses who were talking to the new arrival. "He's with us," he called. Looking back into the room, he caught the concern on the others' faces. "I normally don't let just anybody waltz into hospital rooms… but this guy is the spitting image of you, twenty years ago."

Mac started laughing, but broke off in a wince. "Ooookay, can't do that yet… Yeah. I think I'm looking through a window in a time machine sometimes. There's just enough of his mother in him… Oh, I should warn you; he's not comfortable with outside agencies knowing we're related; he has this overdeveloped sense of professionalism at times."

"Director MacGyver," Sam exclaimed as he maneuvered the multiple bags in his hands through the door. "How are you doing?"

"We'll give you two a few moments alone," Ducky said, giving Gibbs a pointed look and herding him towards the door.

Trying to keep his brave 'I'll be fine' face on for his son, Mac knew the effort was wasted by the scowl on the younger man's lips. "I shoulda listened to you," he sighed, closing his eyes in weariness and missing Sam's startle. "You told me to get that bullet taken out right away."

Sam folded his arms across his chest, genuine concern belying the well-worn yet playful irritation he was trying to hide behind. "You know, most people pick up keychains or coffee mugs as souvenirs. You have to be different..."

"What was I supposed do? The gift shop was closed and I was gonna miss my flight!" Mac retorted.

Sam plowed right over him. "You were so sick of hospitals, you said. You were feeling fine, you said. You couldn't stand the thought of getting cut up any worse than you had been, so you decided to run around with anti-aircraft ordinance lodged in your gut…"

"You have to admit, it made getting through security at those dull diplomatic meetings a lot more interesting," Mac tried.

The last of the exasperated teasing melted from Sam's tone as he grew serious. "If you'd listened to me and had it removed when they hauled you two out of that desert, then the bullet wouldn't have gone missing today," Sam informed him.

Mac managed to get a hand up to massage his forehead. "Great… Three guesses as to where _that_ ended up."

"I'll do my best to get it back, but I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize the relationship the Phoenix Foundation is building with NCIS. We need them on this… despite the history you both have with former Agent Da…"

"When you're at NCIS, paying your respects to Director Vance," Mac interrupted, giving his son a warning look as he caught sight of Gibbs pacing the hallway just outside of his door. "Do me a favor…" Lowering his voice so that Sam had to step closer, he gave him a brief but thorough set of instructions.

* * *

Out in the hallway, Gibbs leaned up against the wall and let out a sigh. "Who'd have thought; _MacGyver_ has a _son_."

"We all keep secrets, Jethro," Ducky reminded him. "Ancient history, I know, but I knew you for ten years before I learned about Shannon and Kelly."

Gibbs tried very hard not to flinch at the names of his late wife and daughter. "Yeah…" He could see Sam and MacGyver through the window of the room, and he grew pensive. He'd known his daughter from conception to her eighth year, but lost her far too soon. From what Mac had said, Gibbs guessed that he was well into his forties before he discovered he'd had a son, but they'd had twenty years to get to know each other. Both had missed out on large chunks of their children's lives.

Sam had brought a small vase of flowers, two tiny balloons made from duct tape, and a handful of gift bags with him. He was helping his father open the bags, and both were laughing at the contents. From what Gibbs could see from his vantage point, one contained only a box of jumbo sized paperclips. The next contained a roll of duct tape. The third was full of empty chewing gum wrappers. Curious as to what was going on, Gibbs stepped closer.

Sam saw him, and waved him inside the room. "Agent Gibbs, I'm very glad to meet you in person. Thank you again for calling me. I'm glad he was in good hands, but it was still nice to know what happened."

"For someone who was heading to the airport while still on the phone with me, you got a lot put together in a short period of time," Gibbs commented, gesturing to all of the goodies spread over Mac's blanketed form. "What's all this?"

Sam chuckled, sounding just like his old man. "Getting gag gifts for a guy who could build a shopping mall from a popsicle stick and a pack of gum is pretty easy. However, I'm going to borrow this one," Sam said, scooping the duct tape up from where it rested on Mac's chest. "And I'm going to give it to you, Agent Gibbs… We need him back healthy. Don't let him do anything until he's recovered enough." He handed the silver roll over to Gibbs, grinning as his father began protesting. "I'm glad you're okay, Mac. You know I'd love to stay, but…"

"Oh, sure! Mock me, steal my get-well presents, use them against me, and bug out!" Mac teased. "I'm glad you came, Sam, but I think you're right… things are probably already falling apart over there without you."

"Besides… I forgot to sign out the Mustang, so I have to do that before Glynis from Accounting gets a hold of me."

Mac rolled his head to give Gibbs a frank stare. "Didn't I tell you? He does love that jet!"

Sam gestured for Gibbs to join him out in the hallway, and he waved Ducky over at the same time. "Thank you both for taking care of him," Sam started. "I got the report from the doctor you told me to call, so thank you. I'm just curious… where did the bullet go? The one they removed?"

"Got sent to our lab, at NCIS," Gibbs said, wondering why Sam was so interested in it.

Sam tried to keep a straight face, but he wasn't as good at it as MacGyver. Gibbs saw disappointment and…concern?…in the younger man's expression. "Oh. I'm curious why, since it wasn't part of your current case?"

"Standard procedure," Gibbs replied. "We process everything." He gave the Assistant Director a narrow-eyed stare. "Got a problem with that?"

"That mission was classified," Sam explained. "I notice that you and your team managed to download the synopsis for every op in his packet. I know you have security clearance, but…"

"We'll copy you in on our full report for this case," Gibbs promised, knowing that wasn't what the other man wanted to hear, but making it plain that was all he was going to get.

Sam read the situation perfectly. "All right, then… It really was good to finally meet the man behind the story I've heard so often."

"Safe trip back to Los Angeles," Gibbs replied.

Sam nodded, then gestured to the duct tape in Gibbs' hands. "Don't be afraid to use that if you need to. He can get pretty ornery if he stays in a hospital bed too long."


	33. Chapter 33: Undercover Operative

_Note: This wasn't originally part of the story, but in a later chapter, a critical piece of evidence disappeared, and I realized I had to figure out how... Mac is good, but even he can't be in two places at once. So, since everyone in this universe seems to have at least two degrees of separation from MacGyver, I figured Sam had to get involved here too... Besides, i had to get to know his character for the next adventure in the Unforgettable Friends series._

* * *

Sam left the store, where he'd picked up a suitcase at his father's request, and slid back into his rental car. He dialed his secretary's number and leaned back in his seat to close his eyes. "My father will be the death of me," he admitted to himself.

"Assistant Director Malloy's Office, Janet speaking," his secretary answered.

"Janet, it's Sam. I need…."

"Sam! How's Mac?" Janet demanded.

Sam chuckled. "Whoever picked 'fourteen stitches' wins that pool. Put me down for 'two days' on the hospital stay before anyone else takes it. Oh, and put Gibbs & Ms. Scuito's checkmarks in the "I've worked with your father" column on the board in my office."

"I'm glad he's going to be okay, Sam," Janet said with a relieved laugh. "What can I do for _you_ , now?"

"I'm heading to NCIS to run some errands for Mac. Please call ahead for me, and set up a meeting with their Director."

"Will do; let me put you on hold, while I make that call."

Sam waited, listening to the soft jazz playing over the hold music as he formulated his game plan for completing all of his father's instructions.

Janet was back on the line in moments. "You're in luck, sir; he literally got back to the States an hour ago, after an oversees business trip," his secretary informed him. "It sounds as though he is eager to meet you."

"Thanks. I hope to be back in the air before 6pm Eastern, which should get me back just in time for my dinner meeting with 'Acting For Freedom'. You know how _much_ I'm looking forward to that…"

"Mac's actress friend, Penny Parker, may be eccentric, Sam, but she's raised a lot of money for her cause," Janet reminded him. "Let me know if I can be of any more help to you."

Sam thanked her, put the phone down, and fired up the engine on his rental car. Traffic was light on his way to the Navy Yard, and he made good time. After parking, going through Security, and being escorted up to the top floor of the brick building, Sam found himself being ushered into Director Vance's office. A quick look around gave Sam a pretty good idea of who he was going to be dealing with; Sam had always been a good judge of people.

Vance had been unpacking his briefcase as the door opened, but he turned and stepped forward to shake his guest's hand. "Assistant Director Malloy, it's a pleasure! You'll have to forgive me; I only just returned to my office and am still trying to get caught up. What can NCIS do for the Phoenix Foundation?"

Sam had to smile; he knew he was going to like this Vance guy a whole lot. "Actually, Director, NCIS has already been incredibly helpful on our joint op..."

Vance blinked in surprise, but covered it well. "I must not have gotten to that file yet," he admitted. "Please, fill me in!"

"We have been working with a number of agencies to help take down a nasty character by the name of Salazar, who, among other things, is attempting to grow his drug pipeline to the East Coast. He made the mistake of threatening the son of one of the Foundation's former contract-employees, and we take care of our own. My Director, a friend of this family, reached out to your Agent Gibbs, and the results have been impressive; Salazar and a large portion of his crew were apprehended earlier today and are currently being processed by your team..." Sam trailed off as he realized Vance's surprise had morphed into astonishment. "Sir?" he asked in concern.

Vance gathered himself. "I trust my people to function with a degree of independence during my absences. This Agency is able to keep a high standard without my constant oversight…"

"So you knew nothing about this?" Sam translated with a chuckle. "I'm very impressed, Director Vance. I wish the Phoenix Foundation could function so well without someone in the office on a constant basis. It's not that I don't have good people," he amended, "it's just that there are so many different kinds of projects going on all at once." Acknowledging Vance's understanding nod, Sam circled back to the original conversation. "Well, I'm glad to be the bearer of good news for you, then!"

"And surprising news," Vance allowed. "Agent Gibbs is by far the best investigator I have, but to put it mildly, he does not have the best reputation for sharing jurisdiction. I admit, it did surprise me to hear that your Director reached out to him and received such cooperation."

"The fact that my Director and Agent Gibbs have worked with each other many times in the past probably had something to do with it," Sam smiled. "Director MacGyver tends to create quite the following of excellent people."

Vance's head snapped up at that. "Director MacGyver! Of the Phoenix Foundation! Well, I'll be...! I am happy to hear that he accepted that position! It's been a few years since I've had the pleasure of seeing Mac myself!"

Sam laughed outright. "Maybe one of these days I'll stop being surprised when I find out that someone knows him! If I may, sir, and if the op wasn't classified, when did you have the opportunity?"

"I hope someday I'll be able to tell that story," Vance replied. "It was a good one!"

Sam nodded with a tinge of resignation. "His best ops usually are... Both excellent stories, and unfortunately, ones we may never hear."

Vance looked down. "I first met him when I was a kid; he'd worked Bomb Disposal in Vietnam with my great-uncle Charlie. Years later, Uncle Charlie died saving Mac's life and a few thousand others when they were called to diffuse a series of bombs planted on a cruise ship. I met MacGyver at the funeral. A lot of the choices I made growing up stem from wanting to be the kind of hero he said my uncle was."

Feeling the hairs on his arms standing up, Sam met Vance's gaze. "I remember him talking about that."

"I wonder if he knows how many lives he's impacted," Vance mused. He waited a moment for Sam's twitch of surprise to fade before changing the tone of the conversation. "Now it's my turn to ask a question that may not be able to be answered, Assistant Director Malloy... Forgive me, but when you first walked in here, I could have sworn I knew you. Bringing up MacGyver has reminded me of why I thought you look familiar...?"

Sam shrugged ruefully. "I generally prefer to keep my family relationship with him out of general knowledge, but yes, Mac is my father."

"I'll bet _that's_ a constant adventure," Vance hedged, unable to hide a smile at Sam's heavenward gaze of frustration. "Is Mac currently in the building? I'd appreciate a chance to catch up with him."

Sam's long-suffering sigh accompanied an expressive eye-roll. "Actually, Director Vance, Mac managed to land himself in the hospital… _again_. That's why I'm meeting with you right now, and not him. He's gonna be fine, sir, please don't worry," Sam interrupted himself as Vance startled. "But that brings to mind a favor I'd like to ask; see, Mac was working an Op a few years back that didn't go as smoothly as we'd have liked. He picked up a bullet, which caused all of his problems today. If Abby is done with it, I would ask for that to be returned to the Phoenix Foundation. If you'll pardon a mangled metaphor, that bullet may be the 'smoking gun' we need to bring some pretty nasty guys down."

Vance was nodding instantly. "If you'd like to accompany me down to the lab, I'll have Miss Scuito sign that out to you."

Sam hesitated just enough to catch Vance's attention. "I appreciate that, sir, truly; but I have to get back to LA for a very important meeting, and I need to find somewhere to print out some files. Mac's laptop isn't working on the hospital's network, and there are some documents I really need him to see. Would there happen to be a printer I could borrow for a few moments?"

"Certainly!" Vance insisted. "I'll show you to Gibbs' bullpen, and you can use the printer there. I'll sign the bullet out of Evidence and bring it up to you."

Sam smiled his gratefulness. "I truly appreciate it, sir!" He followed Vance out of the office, down the stairs, and into the bullpen ringed by four desks. Accepting Vance's assurance that he'd be right back, Sam tugged his own laptop out of his briefcase, connected to the printer, and let the pages roll.

It was only ten minutes later when Sam was putting the final touches on the white three-ring binders. He pushed himself out of his chair, but caught his foot on the edge of the desk and teetered off balance. He caught himself on the bookshelf, causing the shelf to collapse under his grip and sending all of the binders on it to the floor.

"Are you all right, sir?" the security guard who'd been keeping an eye on him demanded as he hurried forward.

Sam held up a hand, trying to wave away his embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Sorry for the noise! I'll put this back together and clean up."

The security guard looked extremely uncomfortable as Sam quickly loaded the replaced shelf, leaving three white binders on the desk before him. "I beg your pardon, sir, but I need to look at those…"

"Sure, help yourself!" Sam insisted, flipping the binders open without hesitation. He smoothed one of the crumpled corners of the pages, making sure the security guard noticed the logo of the flying bird on the paper. "My Director's going to go stir-crazy in the hospital, and he'll appreciate the briefings from his office. It was extremely generous of your Director to allow these to be printed for him."

Vance's return backed the security guard up, and the Director handed over a clear bag containing the specimen jar. "Our forensic scientist had just logged this, so I was able to get it out of our Evidence Lockup" he explained. "I hope you were able to print everything you needed?"

Sam shook the other man's hand. "I was, and thank you! I have just enough time to run this back to the hospital before I need to get airborne. Director Vance, thank you again for all the assistance you've given me today, and for NCIS's collaboration on bringing down Salazar's criminal organization!"

"Be sure to pass on my best wishes to MacGyver, and let him know I look forward to catching up with him when he's feeling better," Vance replied. "I look forward to speaking with you again!"

Sam tucked the last binder into his bulging briefcase, pocketed the bag containing the bullet, and gave Vance a final nod before following the security guard to the elevator.

Once he was out in the car, he allowed himself a small smile. "Mission Accomplished!" Dialing his office one more time, he found himself laughing as his secretary picked up the line. "Janet? One more checkmark in the 'he knew my Dad' column, please!"

* * *

 _Note: Just to whet your appetite a little, the next scene is called "Morphine Interrogation"... Tony makes good on his promise to Abby to get the information they're both dying to learn... But what will they learn?_


	34. Chapter 34: Morphine Interrogation

_Note: Too bad Gibbs had taken the duct tape with him when he stepped out of the room... I'm sure Mac would have wanted to borrow that..._

* * *

Tony arrived at the hospital as the sun was setting. Normal visiting hours were over, but he flashed his badge at the security station to get into the patient wings, and from there up to the floor where MacGyver's room was. The nurses watching the floor told him that MacGyver was sleeping at the moment, but if he was quiet, he was welcomed to wait until he woke up. Tony thanked them and quietly sat in the chair that had already been pulled up near MacGyver's bedside.

Mac was sleeping, and the growing shadows drifting in through the shaded windows settled into the crags and valleys in his face. The artificial moonlight of the parking lot lamps cast a blue glow that made the strands of silver in Mac's hair stand out. For the first time since Tony had met him, MacGyver was looking close to his age.

That made Tony feel inexplicably sad. There weren't enough people like that in the world. Seeing Mac for the first time in the back of the squad car, he never would have guessed the older guy was a globe-trotting daredevil agent, a real James Bond/Indiana Jones hybrid. Working with him since had revealed a down-to-earth guy with the mind of an inventor, the hands of a surgeon, and a staunch refusal to believe in no-win scenarios.

Tony heaved a sigh, feeling a little foolish sitting there and watching MacGyver sleep. He'd put off his arrival at the hospital, not entirely sure how to accomplish what he'd hoped to get out of the visit. He should have figured Mac would be down for the night. He could try telling himself that if he were in Mac's shoes, he wouldn't want to be in a hospital all alone, and that having a friendly face in the next chair would be reassuring. A part of him wondered how long it had been since Abby or Gibbs had been visiting; it didn't seem like either of them to leave him alone for too long. However, Tony realized he was just fooling himself. With the true mission details so heavily classified and the synopsis so redacted, there was probably good reason why MacGyver couldn't say anything. "I guess I'll never know if it was Ziva," he whispered aloud.

" _NO_!" MacGyver shouted as his sharp twitch set all kinds of alarms blaring. The screen showing his vitals was going crazy; his blood pressure and heart rate were in the danger zone within seconds. " _G'DOWN_!" he cried again, wrenching his whole body sideways. Beads of moisture gathered on his forehead as his expressive face showed shock and pain. His long fingers grasped the bandage on his abdomen, plucking at it almost as if he were trying to perform surgery himself. "...not you _… Not you_!"

A nurse darted into the room, reading the monitors. Catching her patient's hands and failing to calm him, she tugged a syringe from one of the med drawers and plugged it into the port on his IV pole. As soon as the plunger emptied the liquid into the line, Mac sagged back into the mattress. "What happened?" the nurse demanded, quickly assessing her patient.

"I dunno!" Tony said quickly, horrified by the idea that just saying the name that haunted him so badly could elicit this kind of response in MacGyver.

"He's probably coming out of a bad dream, and he's hurting. He's refused most of the pain medication we offered him today, and I'll bet that's caught up with him." The nurse moved to the IV pole to work quickly with the bags. "There. That should give him some relief," she said, watching the monitors as Mac's vitals steadied out. "I don't believe this guy!" she exclaimed as she replaced the morphine button next to Mac's hand. "He keeps dropping this over the bed rail!" When every indicator was back in the safety zones and the alarms stopped beeping, she gently wiped Mac's forehead, murmuring calming words until his heart rate had once again returned to normal. The nurse turned to Tony as she stepped away from the bed. "I've given him something to reduce the pain, but he might still dream. If he has another nightmare like this and he doesn't wake up to push the button, call us right away."

"Will do!" Tony insisted. "This looks like a pretty wicked case of Post Traumatic Stress to me."

The nurse glanced at the badge on Tony's belt. "My job is to get him healthy, and that's all I'm going to worry about." With a final glance to reassure herself that MacGyver was resting quietly, she slipped out of the room and bumped the door closed.

At the sound of the latch, Mac's head shifted on the pillow. "…crumbs…" he mumbled, sounding worried. " _G'down_!… Always one…"

"Easy, Mac," Tony encouraged. "You're dreaming."

MacGyver's face twisted. "…Well, _that's_ no good!… No, gotta get you home to… _She's not gonna lose you!_ Wiring… headphones? Oh, _God_ , that hurts!" His voice faded out, growing raspy and even more broken. "… No, you gotta… I'm… _Zee, please_!"

Tony jumped as if he'd been hit with one of those monster slugs. "Ziva?" he demanded, unable to help himself. He leaned in, finding the button and sliding it into Mac's hands. "Mac, if you're hurting, push this!"

Mac's fingers clenched around the button, crushing Tony's hand with enough strength to make the younger man yelp. When the medication hit his system, Mac went limp and released his grip. He lay still for a long moment, his breaths coming in short jerky gasps. When his eyes finally opened, they found Tony but were unable to fix on him.

"You okay?" Tony asked, shaking the circulation back into his fingers. "You scared me there!"

"Thought I was a goner," MacGyver whispered. "Thing hit me like a freight train." His too-bright eyes tracked blearily over Tony's face. "You saved my life…"

Tony shook his head. "You saved her! You pushed her out of the line of fire! You took that slug...so she wouldn't!"

" _Not you!"_ Mac twisted, still caught in the remnants of the nightmare. Shallow gasps barely filled his lungs. "Gotta stay conscious… Talk to me? Tell… tell me more 'bout Tali. Tell me… more 'bout Gibbs'n Tony…"

"Ziva talked about me?" Tony couldn't keep the hopefulness out of his voice.

Mac's next breaths were a little deeper but still very ragged. He seemed to be gathering himself as his gaze slid unsteadily around the room and awareness glimmered in its depths. "Who…?"

Tony glanced around to make sure he wasn't too close to any open electrical sockets or standing under a storm cloud; with the whopper he was going to tell next, he wouldn't have been surprised if lightning generated out of thin air to strike him. "We broke the encryption on your laptop, MacGyver. We've read the entire file. We know what happened." He waited for Mac to process that information, and Tony wasn't pleased to see the stubborn set of his jaw. Tony raised his eyebrows and attempted a conspiratorial whisper. "I saw the size of that slug! How did you survive getting hit with that?"

It was obvious the pain medication was having an additional affect when Mac blurted out, "Barrel wasn't made for that ammo… didn't fit, so not as much 'oomph'…"

"That makes sense," Tony agreed, putting puzzle pieces together from Mac's synopsis. "And you made sure they won't hurt anyone else. I gotta say, from the looks of that monster, you saved a lot of lives there!"

Mac's gaze tightened, reminding Tony of Gibbs' 'Interrogation Look'. However, the forcefulness of the expression was lost a little as Mac waded through the mind-addling drugs being pumped into his system. "How?" Mac demanded.

"You rigged an explosion using chemicals in the building you were held in," Tony said. "By destroying those bullets, you…"

Mac shook his head, wincing as it made his stomach swim. "No… How did you break the encryption?"

Tony shrugged. "I didn't. It was McGee. You know how good he is on the computer. You knew that before you'd met him. She told you all about us."

"Careful," Mac warned. "You're playing with…"

"Fire?" Tony filled in as Mac ran out of energy before he could finish his thought.

Hauling in a deep breath, Mac shook his head once. "...C4..."

"Plastique explosive? Yeah, she was like that. If you didn't know what you were dealing with, she could really surprise you."

"Once," Mac admitted before he realized he'd spoken.

Tony rejoiced silently at the crack he'd managed to open. "Once was usually all it took. Not a whole lot got a second chance to underestimate her."

Mac twisted again, pain showing on his face that no drug could mask. " _Not fair…_ not fair to you…" he mumbled, catching one of Tony's sleeves. "Told her so, too! Kate did it to me… with Sam. Not fair…" Mac's hand dropped back to the sheet as his strength gave out. "She seemed so soft…"

Tony couldn't put the rambling thoughts together, wondering if Mac was getting lost in the conversation they'd started in the bullpen the night before. "Kate died years ago," he reminded him gently.

"And left him alone! All all those years… I told her that! But she wouldn't listen. I met him so much later. Wasn't fair to either of us. I told her she couldn't do that to…" Mac broke off with a groan as his back arched at the memory.

Completely lost now, Tony found himself getting worried. "Mac, what are you talking about? Kate was killed by a terrorist ten years ago; she didn't leave anyone behind. We're talking about Zi…"

Mac's sharp inhale caught in his throat, and he coughed painfully. As soon as he caught his breath, he accepted the straw Tony guided to his lips and took a few swallows from the beige plastic cup. "Thanks… You know, when she showed up with… all that intel, and quite a story… I wouldn't let her come. She had too much to lose. That made her mad…"

Tony pictured Ziva's 'stubborn face' and grinned. "When she feels strongly about something, there's no stopping her."

"Said she had to do it for…" He bit his lip hard, closing his eyes as he rested for a long moment. A sudden memory made him smile. "She gave my secretary conniptions." When Tony prompted him, he continued. "Showed up in my office… Still can't figure how she got through our security."

"That sounds like her," Tony said, the pang of missing her a physical force. "What got you talking about the team?"

MacGyver's eyelids had drifted closed, and the effort it took to pry them open brought his chin up. "Classified document, sealed in an envelope… I used the Swiss Army Knife in my pocket, and she said,..."

"Rule Number Nine; Always Carry a Knife!" Tony finished with him.

The sound of MacGyver's choppy breaths mingled with the soft blips from the monitors. Gathering himself to speak, Mac continued with a faint, yet reminiscent smile. "I pulled Gibbs' sorry carcass out of the jungle…"

"When you first met him, thirty-something years ago," Tony nodded, catching on to MacGyver's thought process.

"Yeah… Took two weeks to get to safety…" It was obvious he was fading, but he kept going. "I learned a lot about his rules. She filled in the ones I'd forgotten… there're, what, forty of 'em?"

Tony snorted. "I think we've climbed beyond the sixties!"

"No kidding... I have some catching up to do…" MacGyver's voice trailed off to almost nothing, and he seemed to melt into the mattress. A slow smile parted his lips, and Tony had to lean in close to hear his next words. "Funny… she'n I felt the same 'bout knives… but our philosophies on paperclips were radically different…"

Knowing he had a brief window before MacGyver gave out completely, Tony bolstered his courage. "Where is she now?"

Mac was quiet for so long that Tony feared he had gone back to sleep. "I'm sorry, Tony..." he finally whispered.

For one horrible moment, Tony thought that meant she hadn't made it back from the mission, but he remembered that after she'd saved MacGyver's life, he'd offered her a job. He tried to keep the pleading out of his eyes as he leaned in and nudged the semi-conscious man's elbow. "Mac, I gotta know. I haven't heard one word from her since I left her in Israel three years ago."

"I get it, DiNozzo… I really do. I'm sorry."

Tony was about to press him further, but it was obvious that MacGyver's last reserve had run out, and he was once again asleep. Tony stared at him for a long moment, then his frustration welled up and he pressed his clenched fists into his knees and gritted his teeth. "I can't _believe_ this!"

"I can't believe you're in my chair," a wry whisper came from the doorway, startling DiNozzo badly. Gibbs materialized out of the shadows, tapping a finger against his lips as Tony started to fumble for an excuse. "I heard. When did McGee break the encryption?"

Tony heaved a sigh. "That was a 'Rule Seven' situation, Boss," he admitted, looking down in embarrassment.

Gibbs quirked one eyebrow. "Convincing," he admitted, and if Tony would have listened harder, he would have heard brief approval behind the words. However, the frown Gibbs fixed his agent with next held a mix of disappointment and anger. "How long did you know about this?"

Tony lowered his head. "The first day, when you caught us with his file." Sensing Gibbs' growing frustration, Tony bristled. "Why didn't I say anything? Because I couldn't be sure. I couldn't get a straight answer out of him."

Gibbs took a deep breath. He'd known right away that Mac knew too much about his team, and it wasn't much of a stretch to figure out how. He'd read the synopsis when Tony wasn't looking, and he'd done his own form of digging. Ultimately, he'd known that he had to back off; Mac's reticence had made that clear. "Why do you think Mac won't talk about her?"

"If I hear, 'It's Classified' one more time…" Tony grumbled.

Gibbs stepped to the window and gazed out over the parking lot. Catching movement in the reflection, Gibbs watched Tony cross his arms like a petulant five-year-old. "I don't think we have the whole story."

"Ya _think_ , Boss?"

Gibbs fired a look at him that was wasted as Tony glared at the floor. "I know Mac's not telling us everything; but if it's not coming from _him..._?"

"He's protecting _her_?" Tony snorted.

"Yeah… How?"

It was obvious that Tony didn't want to look at the big picture, so Gibbs decided to spell it out for him. "She leaves us… we don't really have the full story on that. She turns up at the Phoenix Foundation. Their Field Ops division does what needs to be done, sometimes what the government… _or its agencies_ … can't." He had Tony's attention now, so he paused to let that thought sink in. "There's a new ammunition out there somewhere, with bullets big enough to take out aircraft. She has this intel." He gave it another moment to let the younger man chew that over.

"If the Phoenix Foundation does what we can't, and she went to them with it, it's gotta be something really ugly; some kind of diplomatic talk that can't get messed up… A hostage negotiation!" Tony remembered suddenly. "There were two other hostages that they got to safety. Mac doesn't even hint about their identity."

"So, something has to be done off the radar, and she goes to Mac. We don't know the whole story."

"So we don't know why he can't talk about it… or her… but we can figure he's got a really good reason."

Gibbs nodded. "So does she."

Tony drew his breath in between his teeth. "Ooookay, I didn't think of that. Mac slipped and hinted she was protecting someone…"

"Maybe us?"

Tony looked up at him. "Us?"

"How many times did we go off-book for her?"

Tony had to smile at that. "Yeah, a lot. I get what you mean. We broke every rule in the book for her; when she was framed her for that assassination, when we took out Salim's terrorist camp… I see what you mean."

"If we're willing to do what it takes, at our own expense, she'd know that. If she could have brought this to us, she would have. This one might have taken us down."

"Now that it's over, will she…?"

"Is it over?" Gibbs interrupted.

Tony's mouth hung open for a second. "I… I dunno. Not really knowing what she's involved with, I guess…" He snapped his jaw closed and pointed a knowing finger at Gibbs. "Oh, I gotcha. Yeah, you make a lot of sense."

"Cut MacGyver some slack," Gibbs advised. "He hates this as much as we do." When Tony gave him a questioning look, Gibbs shrugged. "He told me."

Tony was nodding with resignation. "I hated working undercover ops without telling you or the rest of the team. It was for the greater good, and the orders came from the Director or above, but I still hated not being able to talk to you about it. I can't imagine not being able to tell you if I knew Ziva's whereabouts!"

MacGyver drew in a sharp gasp at the sound of her name, and Gibbs hurried to catch his arm as he almost threw himself over the bed rails. Mac flailed, grabbing any part of Gibbs he could. "… _G'Down!_ … Always one left… Not gonna last…"

"Mac, you're having a nightmare!" Gibbs winced as the alarms went off on the monitors next to his ears. He darted a quick glance at the screens and his jaw clenched; he'd been in enough hospitals to know those readings were quickly approaching dangerous. _"HEY!"_ he barked, startling MacGyver out of his fevered dream. "You're safe, Mac! I've gotcha!"

"Where's…?" His fingers full of the fabric of Gibbs' polo shirt, Mac refused to let go. His panicked gaze found Gibbs' face, and relief filled his expression before it crumpled. "Oh, I _hate_ this, Gibbs! _So_ sick of this…" The breathless admission sounded dangerously close to a sob.

The nurse was once again in the room, and she made the mistake of trying to elbow Gibbs out of the way. Both MacGyver's death-grip on his shirt and the arctic defiance in the Special Agent's eyes backed her up for only a second. "Look, he's in no shape to handle this kind of stress. This is his second attack since you both showed up. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Gibbs swiveled his head to give Tony a sharp look. "Go home."

"Both of you!" the nurse insisted.

Gibbs ignored her, returning his full attention to calming his agitated friend. "Don't worry, Mac; I'm not going anywhere," he said in a low voice. "C'mon now, it's almost over."

"Look," the nurse started again, but she swallowed hard as Gibbs' gaze once again found hers.

"Tony, go home," Gibbs said again, his order no less forceful in the soft tone that was slowly bringing MacGyver's nightmare to an end. "He'll settle down. I'm not leaving."

Tony slunk towards the door, wishing he could have gotten more, and sorry that he'd made MacGyver so uncomfortable. As he hit the hallway, he could hear Gibbs' low voice and the smoothing of the erratic beeps.

* * *

 _Note: ...poor guys...!_


	35. Chapter 35:Visitors

"Good morning, Jethro!" Ducky greeted in surprise as Gibbs stepped out into the hallway and nearly collided with him. The alcove Gibbs had appeared from held a coffee dispenser and a pair of vending machines, and the redness of Gibbs' eyes and quiver in the hands that held the cardboard cup indicated this wasn't Gibbs' first visit to this tiny space. "Surely you haven't been here all night?" Ducky asked in concern.

Gibbs drained the coffee dry before shaking his head. "Nope, Abby showed up a few hours ago. I went home to shower and change."

"I do hope you took the opportunity to allow yourself a brief rest," Ducky hedged.

Gibbs dropped the cup in the closest trash can. "Yeah, I racked out on the couch for a bit." He waited for Ducky to say something, but his friend was strangely silent. Gibbs gave him an appraising look, and realized Ducky was staring past his shoulder. Gibbs turned, seeing shadows playing in the doorway to MacGyver's room.

A brunette woman stepped out into the hallway, paused, and turned back to lean against the jamb. She laughed softly at something that was said inside the room, but exhaustion and recent heartbreak seemed to weigh her down. Another shadow came closer to the door, and an older man with silvery hair peeking out from beneath a battered leather airman's cap exited the room. The two linked arms and walked down the hallway.

Ducky slid a look out of the corner of his eye as Gibbs' jaw rippled. "Jethro?" Ducky asked, reading his friend's face.

"That's Dalton."

"The legendary Jack Dalton?" Ducky asked with an appraising look at the retreating figures. "An old friend of yours as well?"

Gibbs slid a gaze at him that spoke volumes. "No. An old buddy of Mac's that tried to get involved in one of our Ops."

"And I surmise that adventure was ill-advised?"

"His 'get rich quick' scheme nearly killed MacGyver'n me. I wouldn't classify him as a 'friend', no."

Ducky shelved his curiosity. "That story will wait for another day. I'm eager to check on MacGyver after his long-dreaded meeting with his 'old buddy'."

When they entered the room, MacGyver was sitting up in bed, staring out the window with a pensive look on his face. "Oh, hi, guys!" he greeted, sensing their presence and hauling himself back to the present. "Gibbs, did you run into Jack?"

When Gibbs didn't answer, Ducky spoke up on his behalf. "We decided to forgo that pleasure for the moment. We were eager to check on you; after our discussion in my office, I hope you had the answers to the right questions?"

MacGyver grinned at the memory. "Am I strong enough to say 'no' to Jack's wheedling?" When Ducky nodded and returned the grin, Mac tossed a look at Gibbs. "Jack was interested in saving a few bucks while up here; he asked where I was staying, probably hoping to scam a free room for himself and Natalie. When I told him I was crashing at your place, I wish you could have seen his face!"

Gibbs allowed a faint smile. "I can imagine."

Mac grew introspective again, but there was a peacefulness about him that both men noticed. "Jack and I had a heart-to-heart. He's always been a big kid, addicted to adventure and the next big thing… He apologized for landing me in trouble all those times. He really has changed, Gibbs. Natalie, and Andy as well, have been the best things in his life." MacGyver paused for a moment as Gibbs offered a non-committal shrug. "Apparently, when he reorganized his business, it's a privately held company. Each member of the family has stock in it. When he told me how much my share was worth, I almost needed a crash cart."

Ducky chuckled with him. "One wonders how that information wasn't brought out when McGee ran all the financials?"

"McGee caught that there were four family members holding stock," Mac admitted. "We just never figured out who that fourth family member was until right now!"

"It's nice to know old friends can still surprise you," Ducky smiled. Reading something into the change in MacGyver's expression, Ducky grew concerned. "I trust all of your visitors have not worn you out?"

Mac offered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "To be honest, I hate having to spend down-time in hospitals. If I'm going to visit with friends, I'd like to be a decent host; not tied to a bunch of machines and wearing this stylish paisley outfit."

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Ducky asked, looking more worried.

"The medicated kind," Mac admitted, settling back against his raised mattress. The corners of his eyes wrinkled as he closed them and heaved a sigh. "There's a reason I don't like pain meds… not only am I just as tired as I was before I went under, but I wake up with the mother of all hangovers."

Gibbs tilted his head and folded his arms. "You don't drink; how would you know what a hangover feels like?"

"I went to college," Mac reminded him. "I watched my buddies drink themselves stupid and pay for it the next morning. If drinking made them feel that lousy, I was smart enough to dodge that bullet…" He winced at his choice of words as his healing injury pinged at the irony.

"We won't stay too long, then," Ducky said, taking a step toward the door.

Mac fought to open his eyes. "No, you guys are fine," he insisted. "Tim and Ellie poked their heads in earlier this morning, and we had a pleasant visit. They promised to swing by again later this afternoon." He yawned briefly. "And then Jack and Natalie showed up…"

"I know Abby has been a consistent presence," Ducky smiled, looking at all of the black spiderweb cards festooning the room. "Has Antony been by?"

The psychologist part of Ducky's training kicked in just then as he wondered how a man laying still in a hospital bed could suddenly become pointedly motionless. The only indication that Mac had heard his question was the play of muscles around his jaw as he ground his teeth. Ducky glanced at Gibbs to see if he noticed MacGyver's reaction, and by his equally active temporal mandibular joint, it was confirmed that he had.

The M.E. raised his eyebrows. "You look like you need your rest, MacGyver. Please call if you need anything." He acknowledged Mac's exhausted nod, then gave Gibbs a questioning look as his friend didn't seem to be getting to his feet.

"I'll follow you in a second, Duck," Gibbs said softly, tossing his head to encourage Ducky to start out without him.

Once Ducky was gone, Gibbs pulled his chair closer to Mac's side. When his buddy didn't open his eyes, Gibbs gave the mattress a nudge to catch his attention. "Hey… you okay?"

Mac's head rolled slowly towards him. One eye cracked open, a disbelieving _'really?'_ stamped all over his expression.

"Another rough night,' Gibbs mentioned. He waited for a few seconds, but Mac had closed his eye and started a slow relaxation breathing technique. "DiNozzo…"

"Learned from the Master, didn't he?" Mac interrupted shortly. "Except for the 'respect' part… he hasn't learned _that_ yet. Do you have a rule against interrogating classified information out of _friends_ when they're under the influence?"

Gibbs thought about that for a second. "Nope… might have to add that to the list, though."

"That, along with timing, might be the next thing I'd teach him, if I were his Boss."

"Oh, I don't think so," Gibbs disagreed. "Motives…? Questionable. Intention…? Desperate. But his timing…? Naw, that was impeccable."

If Mac's eyes had been open, his gaze would have burned a hole right through his friend's forehead. He returned to his slow, measured breathing, which eventually allowed some of the tension to bleed away from his shoulders.

"That was one heck of a nightmare," Gibbs commented, leaning back in his chair. "You stretched out my polo shirt when you grabbed me."

"Give me a receipt for the replacement, and I'll reimburse you," Mac retorted.

Gibbs ignored that. "You took the hit for someone. Saved her life…"

" _Gibbs_ …" Mac growled in warning.

The special agent pushed himself to his feet and pushed the chair back into place with a pointed clatter. "Just wanted to say 'Thanks' for that." Stalking to the door, he paused just long enough to look back and catch MacGyver's startled stare.

* * *

 _We're in the home stretch, friends... three chapters to go! Will Tony get the answers he so desperately needs? Let me know your guesses!_


	36. Chapter 36: Hate Long Goodbyes

_The first of the last three chapters. This has been so much fun! I'm almost sorry to see it draw to a close... Except that I have the sequel well mapped out and mostly written. Huzzah!  
_

 _This chapter's original title was "Paging Abbot and Costello!" but I figured that would be just a bit to obscure. Mac gets a little of his own back here, and I actually felt a little badly for Tony when I finished writing it. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

"Argh! This is so frustrating!" McGee grumbled as he pushed himself back from his desk and crossed the bullpen to the printer. "I swear, I just changed this cartridge yesterday! How can it be empty already?"

Bishop looked up from her own desk. "You did. I watched you. It's empty again? Maybe we need to call IT and have them look at it?"

McGee slid the new cartridge into place and waited as the machine warmed up. Page after page of neat black lines printed out, which he gathered and fed to the hole puncher. "No, it seems to be working."

"Did you swap in a used cartridge?" Bishop queried.

McGee shrugged. "Oh, I don't know; I might have, with everything going on. At least I've gotten this much done."

"McGee, did you submit your report on the Schwimmer case?" DiNozzo asked as he stepped off the elevator and dropped into his chair.

"I've been working on it for two days now, Tony," McGee sighed. "Just putting the last touches on it. All I need is a few more details about the warehouse, and MacGyver's first name. How is it that none of us know that?"

Tony leaned forward to unlock his computer. "Anything…besides his name… that I can help you with?"

"Sure, I need to verify the count on those containers of explosives we found…" McGee trailed off as he looked over at his colleague. "Tony? Is everything okay?"

DiNozzo looked haunted. He had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, and his hair was tousled. "Yeah, why?" he asked with a way-too-blasé smirk.

"Because you look like you're been hit by a truck," Bishop mentioned as she crossed to stand before his desk. "What's going on?"

"I just didn't sleep all that well last night," Tony said with an exaggerated yawn. He stretched as far as his arms would reach to prove his point.

McGee frowned at him, his brows furrowed. "Yeah, this is more than just a sleepless night. You weren't at home; where did you end up?"

DiNozzo now looked defensive. "How do you know I wasn't home?"

"Tony, c'mon… I know you keep extra shirts and ties in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet. You haven't showered, and that's the same suit you were wearing yesterday. I smell barbecue sauce, which means you probably were up all night at that bar you go to sometimes. The one that Zi…"

"McGee!"

"…va frequented when she was undercover…" McGee trailed off as Tony came halfway out of his chair. "Tony, what's going on?"

Consciously reining himself in, Tony took a deep breath and forced a smile. "So, our highly trained Special Agent Investigator ate his Breakfast of Champions this morning, did he?" he taunted, trying to change the subject. "Aren't you just so smart?"

Refusing to rise to the bait, McGee studied his coworker for a long moment. "Something's eating you. What is it?"

The conversation was interrupted by Abby, who blew into the bullpen like a gale-force wind. "I can't believe he's doing this!" Her pigtails quivered as she slammed her fists on DiNozzo's desk.

It was obvious that DiNozzo knew more about Abby's comment than either Bishop or McGee. "You tried to get in?"

"And was denied! I'd almost gotten in yesterday, but it was getting late, andI wanted to get back to the hospital to stay with Mac. I left my 'safecracker' program running overnight. When I checked on it this morning, the entire code had been reworked. Even the synopses had been reclassified."

"Tony?" McGee demanded. "What's going on?"

Tony and Abby had a silent conversation that practically shouted their emotions without offering any clarification. Abby's raised eyebrows indicated that the ball was in DiNozzo's court, so Tony took a deep breath. "When we first met MacGyver, it was obvious that he knew something about our team; he knew our names before we were introduced, he knew things about us that aren't common knowledge. Abby and I tried to figure out how."

Tim squinted slightly as he thought that over. "Yeah, we never explored that, did we? I guess I just chalked it up to him knowing Gibbs."

"Abby and I did a little digging into some of his missions. We tried to connect the dots to see what intersected."

Bishop leaned forward as Tony hesitated. "And what did you find?"

Tony and Abby were again conversing without speaking. It was obvious that while both of them had strong feelings on the subject, neither had any idea on how best to proceed.

"We weren't able to find anything," Tony finally said, the words accompanying a gusty sigh. "When Abby tried to break the encryption, the coding changed overnight. I think MacGyver wants certain information to remain classified… or at least, someone at the Phoenix Foundation doesn't want us snooping around."

Abby's dark lips separated in an 'o' of surprise. "I didn't think of that. His laptop didn't work in the hospital, and I was sitting right there with him. I'm still really ticked off," she informed them, "but I'm glad I don't have to be mad at _him_ personally." A ray of sunshine brightened her expression. "That makes me feel better!"

"Well, we still have these," Bishop recalled, reaching for the three binders on the bookshelf. "Remember, we printed all of his synopses when we looked him up the first time?"

Tony bounded to his feet and grabbed one, looking strangely protective as he held it momentarily to his chest. "That's right; good thinking, Bishop!" Moving back to his desk, he dropped the binder on it and flipped it open. "Since we don't have the digital copies anymore, we can at least use…"

McGee wasted no time rushing to Tony's side as his friend froze in horrified disbelief. "Tony, what?"

Wordlessly, Tony stepped back to let him look.

McGee paged through the binder in confusion. "I don't get it. This is hardcopy of every file we sent and received from the Phoenix Foundation. This is our entire file from this current case."

Bishop picked up the other two binders. "This is nothing but research done on various chemical compounds…This has to be Abby's breakdown of the chemicals we found in those recycling bins when we caught Salazar."

"Where did MacGyver's mission details go?" DiNozzo demanded. "Who changed these out?"

Bishop and McGee shook their heads. "The last time I remember anyone looking at them was the day we printed them," McGee offered.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "MacGyver…" he breathed. "Remember, he was poking around the shelves after he'd given us access to his laptop?"

"I was so busy digging in to that, I guess I didn't notice," McGee admitted.

"He was wandering around the whole bullpen, looking at everything. I didn't give it a second thought," Bishop added.

Abby was looking at the reports from her lab. "But these reports are from the last two days, and he wasn't anywhere near the building; there's no way he could have changed them out then!"

"I'm gonna ask him," DiNozzo promised darkly.

"When will MacGyver get out of the hospital?" Bishop asked. "When I checked on him last, he seemed to be doing really well."

"I would think another day or two," McGee shrugged. "That was major surgery, and I know he claims to bounce back quickly…"

"Only because those claims are true," MacGyver himself announced cheerfully as he sauntered into the bullpen. He stuck his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans as he came to a halt before them. "I'm glad you're all here; I hate long goodbyes, but wanted to tell you how much I appreciated working with you. I couldn't have taken down this Cougar guy on my own."

Abby threw her arms around him, her enthusiasm tempered by her concern for his wellbeing. "I'm so glad you're up and around! It was great to see you, Mac!" She pulled back suddenly, her gaze burning into his. "What do you mean, 'Goodbye'?" she demanded. "You're not leaving, are you?"

He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows with a nod of chagrin. "Yeah, Abs, unfortunately, I have to. I've got to get back to the Phoenix Foundation and coordinate. With a whole bunch of agencies working on this, we might take down what's left of Salazar's organization."

"But, you had surgery just two days ago!" Bishop protested, circling her desk to give MacGyver a hug of her own. "Are you ready to go back?"

His eyes rested pointedly on the splinted wrist she had resting on his shoulder and her recently unbraided hair. "You got pretty banged up out there in the woods, and you were back the next day," he reminded her with a teasing grin. "Are you really the best person to be asking me this?"

She chuckled with him. "Okay, you have a point."

McGee was on his feet, offering a handshake. "It's been an adventure working with you, Mac. Stay in touch, okay?"

"He won't have a choice, there," Gibbs answered for him as he strode past them on his way to his desk. "We're going to be sharing information on the Salazar case until it's locked up."

Mac rolled his eyes at Gibbs, but the smile returned to his face as he turned to Tony. "Very Special Agent DiNozzo," he said with friendly teasing. "Tony, it's been real!"

Tony looked as though he wanted to say something other than the "Thanks for everything" that he finally was able to choke out.

Mac heaved a heavy sigh, trying not to let show how the effort of standing there was draining him. "Gibbs, I'd like to head down to say goodbye to Ducky before you drive me to the airport."

"Sure thing. Meet you down there," Gibbs said, looking up from his computer.

Mac headed to the elevator, and Tony waited until nearly the last second to rush after him and jump in before the doors slid closed.

"Awww, you missed me already?" Mac teased as he leaned against the wall with studied nonchalance. "I'd have held the doors for you!"

Tony reached out and flipped the switch, halting the elevator mid-floor and throwing the small area into a bluish shadow. "Mac, I…"

"I can't thank you enough for getting me that first class ticket on an actual airline," MacGyver interrupted. "I asked around, and everyone said you were the one who arranged that. Sure beats rolling around in a cargo plane again!"

"Not what I wanted to talk about," DiNozzo informed him.

"But I appreciate it all the same," MacGyver finished.

"Well, all right; you're welcome. Look, I need to know…"

"Yes, my home in Los Angeles is right near the beach, and yes, I accept houseguests. You'll have to reserve early, though, because I'm booked up until next year."

Tony pulled in a long breath to hide his growing frustration. "It's about…"

"…time you took a vacation? I agree. The stress of this case is getting you all worked up. Anyone can see it. You need a break. Take some time off. Focus on something else."

"I'd like to, but I can't seem to get a straight answer out of you!" Tony growled. "Ziva. Where is she?"

MacGyver looked genuinely confused. "The agent that joined the team after you lost Kate? I don't know what you're…"

"C'mon, MacGyver! I read the synopsis of your last Op…before it magically disappeared from our bookshelf! She brought you intel, you used your knife to open it…."

"I use my knife for everything short of brushing my teeth; and my last Op was the Salazar case here in DC," Mac said, shaking his head. The look of concern over Tony's sanity that creased his forehead made Tony even closer to losing it.

"Your Op in the Middle East, where you picked up that huge bullet?"

MacGyver's face brightened. "Ah, yes, Afghanistan! She saved my life when I got shot. Man, that hurt! She had to cauterize the wound with a fireplace poker when it got infected. It was probably crashing my hang glider into the river that did me in… or the horseback ride back to her place." He ignored the bewildered astonishment on DiNozzo's face as he shook his head and rubbed his right shoulder in painful reminiscence. "But that was thirty years ago, Tony. I haven't talked to Miri or Ahmed in forever. Why bring them up now?"

Tony closed his eyes, hauled in a deep breath, and pressed the palms of his hands together in a bid for patience. "Ziva David; Israeli, former NCIS Agent, long legs, even longer brunette hair?"

The incomprehension in MacGyver's eyes made DiNozzo want to reach out and throttle him. "Not really my type, if that's what you're going for… I prefer blondes; curvy ones…"

Tony whirled away from him and placed his fists against the wall before he actually decked the older man. "You're killing me, Mac!"

"You're confusing me, DiNozzo. I'm sorry, but if we don't get this elevator moving again, I'm gonna miss my plane, and Sam's going to have to come get me in the Mustang. Not that he'd mind," Mac interjected quickly, "But we're already a tad over-budget on this Operation. At least my Insurance deductible has already been met, so there's no out-of-pocket medical expenses…"

"I just need to know that she's okay," Tony spat through gritted teeth. "You said she saved your life…"

"When?

"After you got shot!"

"Where?"

"In the helicopter!"

"I got shot in a helicopter?"

Tony could feel the pulse throbbing behind his eyes. "You got shot saving her from a huge bullet, and she pulled you into the helicopter, using a set of headphones to cauterize your injury…"

"Wow, that sounds like quite an adventure! Where did you hear this?" MacGyver demanded in disbelief.

DiNozzo balled his fists until his nails bit into his palms. "You told me yourself, two nights ago. You were coming out of a nightmare, and asked Ziva to tell you more about me."

"Oh, right; in the hospital!" Mac said with revelation, ignoring the rush of air as Tony spun to face him with brimming excitement. "Yeah, just ask my son about my 'morphine ramblings', as he calls them. Sam gets the biggest kick out of the stories I tell when I'm _that_ medicated; he says they're a strange mix of all of my Ops, plus whatever reports I've been reading from my agents in the field at the time. He's started writing them down, and he reads them to me when the meds clear my system. He'll be the first to tell you, you can't believe a word I'm saying when I'm loopy."

Devastation shuttered Tony's eyes and brought his shoulders down to a hunch. When he spoke, the words came out in a whisper. "Mac… please. I know you worked with someone, a former agent from an 'alphabet soup group' agency, who used to work with Gibbs. She means a lot to us. I just need to know if she's okay."

MacGyver was silent for a long moment as he stared at the floor between them. "It's hard losing people, isn't it?"

Tony swallowed hard. "Yeah."

"People come and go, but some of them stay in your heart forever."

"Yeah," Tony repeated, hope regrowing in his voice.

"I've worked with a lot of people like that. I've even lost a few. I sympathize with what you're going through, Tony."

"Then…?"

"I know how frustrating it can be when you don't get the answers you're looking for."

"Then…."

"I also know that sometimes, there are no answers, no matter what the question is."

"Then…!"

MacGyver waved him to silence. He took a deep breath and held it. "I don't have any answers for you, and I'm sorry. I really, truly am sorry, Tony. It hurts me just as much to say it as it does for you to hear it, trust me." He soldiered on over Tony's derisive snort. "I will promise you one thing; _if_ I happen to run into any mutual friends in the future, I'll pass on your best wishes. That's the best I can do." He leaned forward to flip the switch, sending the elevator back on its way.

* * *

 _Note: I really, really feel sorry for Tony here. Especially now that we all know what happened (if you watched the last episode of Season 13, anyway...)_

 _The reference to Mac in Afghanistan was from the episode called "To Be A Man", from (I think) the first season. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong._


	37. Chapter 37: Back Home Again

MacGyver felt some of his exhaustion lift as the elevator door opened, revealing the familiar logo of the Phoenix Foundation frosted onto the glass doors of his office. "Home Sweet Home," he grinned.

"It's good to have you home, Dad," Sam said again as he helped carry the suitcases into the Director's office.

Mac looked around the familiar space, seeing the collection of 'souvenirs' from various missions on the shelves that reminded him of so many different friends he'd met over the years. There was a new one amidst the bizarre bits and bobs; a blackened bullet in a glass evidence jar. He leaned in for a closer look. "I'm glad to be home, Sam. Thank you for keeping this place going while I was gone."

His son was chuckling as he jockeyed the brand new suitcases into a line by the side of the desk. "I have to admit, it's strange having you come home with luggage. You usually stick to a duffel bag, if you bother packing at all."

"I'd have forgotten about these on the carousel, if you hadn't been there to meet me," Mac admitted, still distracted by the little glass jar and its contents. He tapped it with a long finger, hearing the jingle of the metal against the glass...and not the memory of the crack and whine he'd expected to. He prayed that meant his nightmares were over.

Sam gave his father a searching look. "Don't worry about unpacking tonight. Oh, and I'll save the briefings on what happened outside of this Op for later. You look a little worn out." He shook his head as Mac crossed the room to collapse into his chair with a sigh.

"I don't want to leave without putting that file in the safe," Mac admitted, rolling his chair closer to the suitcases and reaching for the zipper. "Call me paranoid…" He drew back with a wince as his healing injury reminded him not to bend that way.

Knowing it was useless to argue, Sam unzipped the first case. "Paranoid?" he repeated with gentle teasing. "The bags will be locked in this office, which happens to be retina-scanner-accessible only."

"I know," Mac sighed, allowing the younger man to pull out the contents of the case and hand them up. He accepted the tin of Apricot tea that Ducky had sent home with him with a fond smile.

Sam continued digging, passing up a paperback book entitled 'Amazing Paper Airplanes' that had been a gift from McGee. "In addition to the locks and scanners, your office happens to be on a floor that can only be reached by an elevator requiring a Phoenix-issued security card."

"Yeah," Mac agreed, grinning at Sam's confusion at the next item; it was the PVC cast he'd made for Bishop in the woods. Bishop had gotten everyone on the team sign it before she'd used a squirrel sticker to affix a gift certificate to a greasy burger joint to it.

"Your friends have a bizarre sense of humor," Sam had to admit, looking from the sticker on the cast to the next item out of the case, which was a 1:64 scale die cast model of a rescue helicopter, a gift from Gibbs that he'd picked up in the hospital's gift shop.

"There always seems to be a chopper involved somehow when the two of us work together," Mac admitted.

"Okay, these are awesome," Sam admitted, tugging out the bouquet of faux roses, each fashioned from black, red and green duct tape, that Abby had brought to MacGyver's hospital room.

"She's one of a kind," Mac agreed as he laid them on his desk. His nose twitched at the air currents they stirred up. "I didn't notice before, but they smell like gunpowder!"

As he watched Sam rooting through the rest of the odds and ends accumulated on his DC trip, Mac had a sudden flash of memory. "Oh, you know what? It's in the carry-on, sorry!"

Sam opened the other case and pulled out what his father had really been looking for. "As worried as you were with someone coming across these, you had them in your carry-on?"

"I had to have something to do on the plane!" Mac protested with a chuckle. "I figured reading all my old mission briefs would help the time pass."

"Did it?" Sam had to ask.

Mac leaned back in his chair, letting his head rest against the leather as he closed his eyes. "Yeah, I guess. Just a lot of memories in those." Knowing without looking that Sam was watching him with growing concern, Mac didn't have it in him yet to meet his gaze. "Sam, I gotta beat the dead horse again. Why do you think your mother…"

Sam interrupted immediately. "Dad, you have to stop beating yourself up over that. She made her decision, and I'm sorry that it hurt you so badly."

"Okay, the logical part of me agrees that I shouldn't feel guilty for missing your first eighteen years," MacGyver continued, his voice growing a little sharp. "You have to know by now that…"

"That if you _had_ known I existed, you would have dropped _everything_ and come running to find me," Sam continued with the monotonous sing-song tone of someone exhausted by the same old argument. "Yes, Dad, I _know_! I also know that you made a solemn promise to keep someone's secret and you're not going to break that."

Mac's eyes slitted in anger. "But I've been on Tony's side of this situation, Sam, and I can tell you that it isn't a nice one! He's a good guy; it's not fair to him."

Although no less firm, Sam's voice was infinitely more gentle. "That's not your call," he reminded him. "You've tried talking to her, you've tried telling her our story, and you've kept your promise to her by keeping her secret. There's no amount of duct tape or chewing gum that'll fix this issue, and you have to accept that."

Exhaling a long sigh, Mac allowed his eyes to close again as he rested against the comfort of his chair. "I know, I know…you're right."

Several long moments passed in silence, and Mac could tell that his son was watching him with growing concern. "I'm fine, Sam," he tried to insist.

"Yeah, sure," Sam retorted. "Don't get started on anything here… Go home and get some sleep."

Mac appreciated the fussing, but he shook his head. "I've got something I need to take care of, but it shouldn't take me too long. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Sam was watching him carefully. "Okay. Don't stay too late. Oh, by the way; Lisa and I want to invite you over for dinner tomorrow. She says she needs help with a recipe and requires your expert advice."

Mac chuckled aloud. It still tickled him that a preteen that had saved his life in a boat house in Switzerland so many years ago, that had survived an ugly childhood by reaching out to him for help, had grown up and married his own son. "Who am I to say 'no' to a friend?" he asked, and Sam joined him in laughter.

"G'night, Dad," Sam said, slipping towards the office door. "Get some rest."

"G'night, Son. I will, I promise!"

When the door was closed and MacGyver was alone in his office, he picked up a picture frame on the corner of his desk. The faded snapshot, crumpled and stained from the adventure it had survived, showed MacGyver and Pete grinning like fools as they dragged each other out of a smoking building. Flipping the picture over, he pushed back the clasps that held the back on, and shook out a tiny silver key. Once the picture was returned to its place of honor, Mac slid the key into the lock on the file drawer under his desk and withdrew a manilla folder. There was a phone number written on a scrap of paper taped to the inside of the folder, and Mac stared at it for a while. "If you don't ask, the answer is automatically 'no'," he reminded himself as he picked up the handset of his desk phone, hit the 'secure scramble' button, then dialed the number.

"I am unable to answer at the moment. Please leave a message, and I will return your call…maybe," a pleasant, exotically accented recorded voice said before the beep.

Mac took a short breath. "Hey… It's me, Mac. Listen; I know you're busy, but would you have time to grab a cup of tea with me soon? I just got back from the Field, and I need to talk to you. I… I ran into some mutual friends recently, and just wanted to… Listen, I know what you told me, and I respect that, but… Give me a call when you can, okay, Zee?"

Hanging up the phone, MacGyver put the folder away, relocked the drawer, and replaced the key. Deciding which of his bags he wanted to carry back home with him, he arranged everything else against the wall where it was out of the way. He had just flipped off the lights and reached for the doorknob when the phone on his desk rang.


	38. Chapter 38: Epilogue

_This is it, guys; the last chapter! Thank you for sticking with me to the end!_

* * *

Two Months Later...

* * *

The intern from the mail department bolstered his courage before stepping into the most terrifying place in the entire building.

"Hi, Kevin!" DiNozzo greeted, catching sight of the intern passing his desk.

"Hi, Tony," the intern replied, dropping the Priority Document envelope on Gibbs' desk. He gulped as the silver haired agent looked up at him, gave a brief nod of thanks, then went right back to ignoring him. The intern darted back to his cart and sped off, grateful to be alive.

"I never could figure that guy out," DiNozzo commented, watching the intern duck into the elevator. "He acts like one of us is going to chew his arm off, or something."

Gibbs grunted. He let the envelope sit on the corner of his desk for a few moments while he finished the report he was typing, but when he'd submitted it and closed out of the program, he tugged his knife from his pocket and slit the seals. Putting the blade away, he lifted the cardboard flap and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

DiNozzo wandered over. "Boss?" he queried when Gibbs didn't move. He peered over Gibbs' shoulder, seeing the words inked into the cardboard.

" _Good old 'Rule Number Nine'_!" the note read. Tony blinked a few times before reading it again. The words were there, all right, and in a barely legible scrawl. "Shipping label says from The Phoenix Foundation, Lost Angeles. MacGyver?"

"Rule Number Nine…" Gibbs repeated softly, glancing up to meet Tony's eyes. He noticed the goosebumps rising on both of their arms as he opened the cardboard envelope and pulled out the items inside. There was a typed letter on Phoenix Foundation letterhead signed with MacGyver's scrawling autograph, and a plain ivory colored envelope, 4x6" and sealed. Pushing aside Tony's hand as he made a grab for the envelope, Gibbs picked up the letter first and read it.

 _MacGyver's Voiceover: Dear Gibbs and the Team; It's been a busy couple of months here. Using the intel you were kind enough to share, I had the Investigative side of the Foundation follow the leads we dug up, and we've taken down quite a bit of Salazar's extended business associates. I've kept in touch with Jack and Natalie, who are happy to report that Andy is doing very well at the Rehab facility and should be able to go home in the next few weeks. I've been trying to keep myself out of trouble, but you know how good I am at that. I need to ask Ducky where he gets his Apricot Tea… I developed a taste for it when I visited you in DC, and I haven't been able to track down a brand that's as good as his._

 _Okay, enough rambling. If you've bothered to read this far in the letter, I'd better get to the point and not aggravate you any further._

 _I got in touch with a mutual friend, and told her about the adventure we had. I took the liberty of extending everyone's well wishes, and she appreciated the sentiments. I did drop a pointed hint that perhaps she would like to reciprocate those sentiments. I got this in the mail yesterday._

 _You'll have to forgive me, especially Abby, but I ran this through the lab here at the Foundation and tried to figure out where it came from. I wish you better luck than we had._

 _Keep in touch, you guys! Gibbs, I don't want another fifteen years to go by before we hear from each other again. Like I said the day you arrested me, my number hasn't changed!_

 _May your roll of duct tape always have enough on it!_

 _MacGyver_

With fingers that trembled openly, Gibbs picked up the ivory envelope and broke the seal. Inside was a plain ivory piece of paper, folded over. He flipped it open and stared at the words written in the hauntingly familiar handwriting.

 _Ziva's voiceover: I miss you too. I will never forget you. Shalom._

Gibbs twisted away as DiNozzo attempted to snatch the paper from his hands. Blocking the agent with his shoulder, Gibbs pushed himself to his feet and strode quickly to the elevator that would take him to Abby's lab, and hopefully some answers.

* * *

The sun was hot enough in the desert to make the stale water in the cooler refreshing. MacGyver used his bandana to wipe the sweat from his forehead and cheeks as he looked over the scene. Swarms of people carried building materials back and forth like ants, and the structures grew with every hammer strike. The school had just been completed, two weeks ahead of schedule. He hoped Sam would have a chance to fly out for the dedication. They were working on a community education facility next, where classes ranging from Languages to Finance would be provided for the adults. This place, this complex, was amazing. To see it rise out of the empty land so quickly, the white walls of the buildings shining like the beacons of hope they were, made MacGyver's heart thrill with happiness.

The project coordinator sauntered over to him, tugging her long dark braid free of her collar as she walked. She accepted the cup of water MacGyver held out to her with a grateful nod, and drained it in two gulps. "Thank you again for being here, Mac."

He wondered if he'd ever grow accustomed to hearing her sultry accent. "My pleasure; and thank you for letting me help!"

"These people are eager for a new start, and so grateful for this opportunity. To have escaped such horrors to come here and find peace… many still cannot believe it!"

Mac grinned. "I'm still surprised they wanted to settle _here_!"

She reached out and wiped away sand that had accumulated on MacGyver's cheek. "I grew up in a place like this, as they did. This is what we know."

The children playing in the school yard let out yells of delight as they began a new game, and both of them smiled. "I hope peace is what these kids'll know as they grow up here," Mac offered.

"We gave them a good start," she agreed. They watched the scene for a few more moments before she turned back to him, her beautiful face looking troubled. "Mac, I still think it was a mistake to send that letter to…" She broke off, her fingers toying with the zipper on the side of her cargo pants.

"I have a confession," Mac started slowly. "I know you didn't want to be found, Zee. I had my lab at the Foundation go over that letter for any trace of forensic evidence that might point to where you are now. I know Abby's good, but so are my people. I'm sorry to frustrate Gibbs and the others, but they're not going to be able to track you down."

She gazed at him with appreciation. "I hope, when my work is done, that I can go back to them and explain… and explain _everything_. I just hope, in the meantime, that they don't forget me."

Mac rested a friendly hand on her elbow and reassured, "They'll never forget you!"

 _-fin-_

* * *

 _Thank you so much for reading this, and for those of you who reviewed, thank you extra! (especially DS2010, ladyaloysius, and Sue! You guys made my day!)_

 _Stay tuned for the next adventure of the Unforgettable Friends series... Coming soon!_


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